3.3 Full Retention of Tunas

The dumping of less valuable tuna in favor of higher-value catch distorts our understanding of the actual impact on the tuna stocks by fishing operations.

1. Processors, traders, importers, transporters, marketers and others involved in the seafood industry shall conduct transactions only with those purse seine vessels that retain all caught tuna (skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye), except those unfit for human consumption, or when in the final set of a trip, there is insufficient well space to accommodate all fish caught in that set.
2. For purposes of this measure, “unfit for human consumption” means fish that:
   (i) is meshed or crushed in the purse seine net; or
   (ii) is damaged due to shark or whale depredation; or
   (iii) has died and spoiled in the net where a gear failure has prevented both the normal retrieval of the net and catch and efforts to release the fish alive.
3. “Unfit for human consumption” does not include fish that:
   (i) is considered undesirable in terms of size, marketability, or species composition; or
   (ii) is spoiled or contaminated as the result of an act or omission of the crew of the fishing vessel.