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Record of Large-Scale Purse Seine Vessels

ISSF’s Record of Large-Scale Purse Seine Vessels (LSPSR) lists the name, flag, authorized RFMO, and UVI number — along with other characteristics — of large-scale purse-seine vessels worldwide fishing for tropical tuna.

LSPSR List

A verified resource for sustainable-fishing stakeholders

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT TOOL

The LSPSR (or “Record”) helps fisheries policymakers and sustainability stakeholders to track and assess fishing capacity in the global purse-seine fleet, which harvests more than 60% of the total tuna catch.

As part of their responsibility, Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMOs) must oversee fleet capacity in their regions, since excess fishing capacity can lead to overfishing, which harms stocks and damages the marine ecosystem.

Related Conservation Measure

The LSPSR supports ISSF Conservation Measure 6.1 (Transaction Ban for Large-Scale Purse-Seine Vessels not Actively Fishing for Tuna as of December 31, 2012).

USING THE LSPSR

Vessel Conditions

In the Record, an asterisk ( * ) after the vessel name indicates that the vessel has met all of these conditions:

  • Has sunk, has been scrapped or otherwise permanently transferred out of the tropical tuna fishery
  • Had not ceased fishing operations prior to January 1, 2010
  • Has provided a Vessel Removal Form or Vessel Replacement Form

We maintain a separate list of vessels that have been delisted from or relisted on the LSPSR.

LSPSR records can be downloaded in CSV format.

Information for Vessel Owners

Owners of purse seiners listed in the Record must notify ISSF when a vessel has sunk, has been scrapped, or has otherwise been permanently transferred out of the tropical tuna fishery. Use the Vessel Removal Form or Vessel Replacement Form to contact us.

  • Owners may be able to replace their listings of sunk, scrapped, or transferred vessels with listings of newly built large-scale purse seine vessels.
  • Vessel characteristics must be verified by a third-party auditor if the vessel’s capacity is used to bring a “new” vessel online.

See ISSF Conservation Measure 6.2 to learn more about these requirements.

LSPSR Data Sources

ISSF compiles the purse-seine vessel information in the Record of Large-Scale Purse-Seine Vessels from:

  • Tuna RFMO Regional Vessel Registers
  • IHS Register
  • National governments
  • Research institutes
  • Tuna fishing industry

We do not independently verify vessel characteristics (including capacity), however, when listing vessels.

PURSE-SEINE PUBLICATIONS