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Document: ISSF 2018-16: A Pre-Assessment of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Fisheries Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria: Principle 2


The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has established a program whereby a fishery may be certified as being sustainable. The sustainability of a fishery is defined by MSC criteria which are embodied in three Principles: relating to the status of the stock (P1), the ecosystem of which the stock is a member (P2) and the fishery management system (P3).

This report is focused on Principle 2:

  • Principle 2 (P2): Fishing operations should allow for the maintenance of the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the ecosystem (including habitat and associated dependent and ecologically related species) on which the fishery depends.

This Principle 2 relates to the performance of the specific fishery relative to all wider ecological impacts.

The approach adopted here uses the MSC definition of a unit of assessment (UoA), which is the combination of the fish stock (biologically distinct unit) with the fishing method (vessel(s) targeting that stock) in a specific area. In total, 166 UoAs have been identified for these pre-assessments.

Download Related Report Materials
Along with this report, we’ve published a P2 scoring overview summary table, a PSA scores summary table, and 166 UoA individual reports, which you can download on this site.

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