Global crackdown pledged in fight against illegal tuna fishing

Launched on World Environment Day at the United Nations’ first global Ocean Conference, the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration aims to stop illegal tuna from coming to the market. It is supported by 18 civil society organisations including the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California in Santa Barbara, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Marine Stewardship Council, The Nature Conservancy and OceanElders.
The combined revenue of the businesses is US$150 billion. The backers of the declaration say it sends a clear message to organisations in the tuna supply chain – from fishing companies to producers and retailers – that the net is closing in on illegally fished tuna and forced labour on the high seas.
 The declaration will be supported by The Ocean Data Alliance, an open-access platform mobilised yesterday at the UN that will involve big technology companies, governments and research institutes. These partners will work together to develop open-source solutions that provide the data needed for comprehensive monitoring of ocean resources. Full traceability of stocks and elimination of illegal activities have been made possible by new technologies such as blockchain, data and satellite tracking.
 Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) represents a global theft of about 26 million metric tonnes of fish, or US$24 billion dollars, each year. Around a billion people rely on fish as their primary source of animal protein, particularly in developing countries. 
 Tuna is one of the most overfished and at-risk groups of fish. Many are “keystone species”, meaning that overfishing can have a significant impact on ocean health. Bluefin tuna have seen their populations collapse by over 90 per cent and will take decades to fully recover.
 IUU tuna fishing is a source of forced labour in many countries, violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation’s conventions and recommendations.
 “The Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration is an unprecedented commitment to stop illegal tuna from coming to market,” said Dominic Waughray, head of public-private partnership and a member of the executive committee of the World Economic Forum.
 “Multi-stakeholder collaboration combined with Fourth Industrial Revolution innovations such as advanced remote sensing, the latest generation of satellites and new computing technologies provide real opportunity to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals to make this happen.”
The Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration came out of discussions at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos in January between industry stakeholders, governments, civil society and the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Peter Thomson.