Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported by

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Indonesia, the world’s largest tuna fishing nation, has pulled out all the stops in recent years to transform the health of an industry blighted by depleted stocks and illegal poaching.



Measures by the government – which have even included the bombing of foreign vessels fishing illegally in Indonesian waters – have helped fish stocks more than double in the last five years.

But now the industry has reached another important milestone: one of Indonesia’s tuna fisheries has become the first in the country – and second in south-east Asia – to achieve the gold standard for sustainable practices.

The PT Crac Sorong pole and line skipjack and yellowfin tuna fishery, based in the province of West Papua, has been certified by the internationally recognised Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard for sustainable fishing.

The fishery, which has become a beacon of best practice in the region, runs 35 pole and line fishing vessels and employs 750 local fishers.

“The efforts made by the fishery to achieve MSC certification will help safeguard livelihoods, seafood supplies and healthy oceans for future generations,” said Patrick Caleo, Asia Pacific director at the MSC. “We hope to see other fisheries follow their lead by joining the global movement for seafood sustainability.”

PT Crac’s new status will create fresh opportunities within the export market. The UK’s Sainsbury’s and Switzerland’s largest retailer, Migros, are among companies that have already committed to the preferential sourcing of certified Indonesian pole and line products.

“We work hard to provide our customers with sustainable seafood products, which is why Migros has committed to preferentially sourcing MSC-certified one-by-one tuna from Indonesia,” said Adrian Lehmann, one of the company’s buyers.

Great Pacific garbage patch $20m cleanup fails to collect plastic Read more

Traditional pole and line fishing has been carried out in Indonesia for many generations. Ali Wibisono, the CEO at PT Crac, said the fishery had employed sustainable practices since it was founded in 1975.

However, to meet the international standard it was necessary to collect extensive data, implementing an observer programme on the vessels to report on tuna and baitfish catches and interaction with vulnerable species.

Wibisono told the Guardian: “Having that first certification – hopefully, the first of many for Indonesia – is a proud moment and really puts us on the map. It is an important milestone for the country but the sustainability of our resources goes beyond the certification.

“Our fisheries also have great importance for the people of Indonesia, providing many jobs, food and supporting livelihoods.”

He said 25% of the fishery’s tuna goes to the local market while each of the 750 fishermen will take some of the catch home to their family.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indonesia produces more tuna than any other country in the world, with total landings of more than 620,000 metric tonnes in 2014. Photograph: Paul Hilton/Earth Tree

The certification will boost the reputation of the Sorong product on the export market as well as having a positive impact on the labour market locally.

“There will be work opportunities for fishermen in the pole and line fleets and also the workers in Sorong’s fish factory,” said Wibisono. “This will attract non-pole and line fisheries to follow our lead and improve the economic turnover in the region.”

Globally, tuna fisheries have an annual value of more than $40bn (£31bn), making improved conservation of the species critical to sustaining marine ecosystems and coastal communities who rely on the industry for food and income.

Indonesia produces more tuna than any other country in the world with total landings of more than 620,000 metric tonnes in 2014, according to the latest data published by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The majority of tuna landed worldwide is taken by fishing vessels using large purse seine nets to encircle schools of fish, primarily targeting skipjack and yellowfin tuna.

While purse seiners operating in the Indonesian economic zone are responsible for the biggest catches, their environmental impact is much greater than pole and line fisheries, which account for 50,000 metric tonnes a year, according to government estimates.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fishermen catch tuna one-by-one with the pole and line technique, in Indonesia. Photograph: Paul Hilton/IPNIF

“The purse seiners are responsible for a higher bycatch and are not as well regulated as what we refer to as the one-by-one tuna fisheries,” explained Martin Purves, managing director of UK-based charity the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF), which has supported fisheries in Indonesia and worldwide.

“Our philosophy of one hook, one line, one fish at a time – using pole and line, handline or troll line behind the boat – is recognised as being the most sustainable model,” he said.

The IPNLF has this week released a film about sustainable tuna fishing. Following its work with PT Crac, the organisation is supporting a further six fisheries in Indonesia to help them achieve MSC certification by mid-2020.

Purves said: “We have had support from 12 of our supply chain members which have signed a joint letter urging fisheries they will switch from any non-MSC tuna to one-by-one tuna from those fisheries in Indonesia reaching MSC certification. That is quite a strong commitment from the market.”

In the past, Indonesia has been seen as a country with lots of small vessels operating without proper management, but steps taken by the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries (MMAF) have started to bear fruit, said Purves.

“The fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti has taken a worldwide lead in terms of addressing illegal fishing in a country that has had major issues in this area,” he said. “A lot of it has been quite public campaigns where vessels have been confiscated or set alight at sea and bombed. But in addition to publicity-grabbing efforts there has been a lot done to improve the legislative framework and great work on transparency.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Indonesian navy blows up a foreign vessel caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters at Lemukutan Island, Kalimantan. Photograph: STR/EPA

Indonesia was the first country in the world to publicly share the positions of its fishing fleets on the public online platform Global Fishing Watch, which uses satellite technology to give real-time tracking information for 70,000 of the world’s largest fishing boats.

In 2014 the MMAF introduced a raft of changes to manage Indonesia’s marine resources, including banning fishing using foreign capital and the use of destructive fishing gear, including trawl nets.

Trian Yunanda, deputy director at the ministry, told the Guardian the policies had led to increased fish stocks and and improvement in the prosperity of fishermen and coastal communities, according to figures for 2016 and 2017.

“The data shows that our traditional and small-scale fisheries have benefited, and their catch has double, from the implemented policy,” explained Yunanda.

He added: “The MSC certification of PT Crac has motivated other tuna fisheries in Indonesia to develop fish improvement projects to address their negative environmental impacts and look at ways to improve.”