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French tuna fleets pilot new observer scheme with African nations

02 March 2014

The French frozen tuna producers’ association, Orthongel, is leading the first observer programme with African countries, which could pave the way for 100% observer coverage on French tuna vessels in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Currently, under RFMO rules, tuna fleets are required to carry scientific observers on board 10% of their fishing trips. The new scheme could mean that observers chosen from a common pool of French and African officials would supervise nearly every fishing trip of French tuna vessels. To gain 100% coverage would require having some 30–40 trained African OCUP (common, unique and permanent observers), if one estimates that the vessels undertake about seven trips each a year.

This new international observer programme is financed by the three member companies of Orthongel (Compagnie Francaise du Thon Oceanique, Sapmer and Saupiquet). The OCUP project started in July 2013, with the aim to implement it in cooperation with West and East African tuna-rich nations and the Bureau Veritas, which will accredit and send out the observers. The scheme is still at an experimental phase but a working group has already been gathered from Senegal, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. The first batch of around eight to nine observers from these three countries – and possibly Gabon as well – will start training soon; they will be deployed on fishing trips in March 2014. Other countries, including Cabo Verde, Comoros, Ghana, Madagascar, São Tome and Principe, Seychelles and Tanzania, have also shown an interest in OCUP, and talks with them are ongoing.

According to Orthongel, the aim of the scheme is (1) to reinforce trust between the flag country and the country where the fishing takes place, as priority will be given to observers from one of the countries of the region where the vessel is fishing; and (2) to facilitate harmonisation of data collection – therefore improving the data quality – while ensuring higher transparency and accountability.

As part of OCUP, two main representatives will be appointed: one for the Atlantic, and one for the Indian Ocean. These will be responsible for handling all the information and for managing the observers, and will ideally be based in the main ports, in Côte d’Ivoire and the Seychelles.

Editorial comment

Having better data is an essential part of the promotion of sustainable fisheries, and on-board observers play a key role in that. As shown in this example, the EU private sector can play a positive role in improving the quality of data collection by increasing the coverage of vessels to 100%, and by harmonising the data collection systems. Provided OCUP observers will be recognised by RFMOs, and that the synergies with existing observer programmes (e.g. that of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas’, (ICCAT’s) for bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye tuna) are clarified, this could eventually replace the need for having several different observers on board. Taking into account that the objective of the OCUP observer scheme is to help establish trust with the partner country, one must see how this initiative may be implemented by those vessels that have currently made the choice of using electronic systems to collect data (“electronic observer”), such as some Spanish purse seiners.

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