Tuna salad. Tuna sandwich. Tuna bake. Tuna pizza. Tuna sushi. Grilled, fried or raw. There is no doubt tuna is popular. Tuna, which is rich in Omega-3, minerals, proteins and vitamin B12, has seen its nutritional success lead to it being overfished.  As the world tries to satiate its appetite for the popular meal, adlut tuna fish are being caught faster than they can breed.

Many countries depend on tuna for food security, economic development, employment and generating government revenue. Over 80 States have tuna fisheries and hundreds of thousands of people rely on fishing for their livelihoods.The Indian Ocean holds the world's second largest tuna fishery, offering significant potential for countries and fishing communities to benefit economically.

However, tuna fisheries are associated with major supply chain risks such as overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the bycatch( part of the catch which is not targeted and is discarded dead) of threatened and endangered species. These activities threaten the sustainability of fisheries, marine ecosystems and livelihoods.

To ensure more sustainable management of tuna fisheries, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and partners including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), co-financed and implemented a five-year, USD 50 million programme. The programme, known as the Global Sustainable Fisheries Management and Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction(ABNJ), is led by the FAO.

To date, the ABNJ programme has made remarkable progress in protecting international waters' biodiversity by ensuring tuna stocks are healthy, that the impact on the ecosystem is minimized and that the global fisheries are well managed.For instance, the programme shows that between 2014 to 2019, the number of mature tuna stocks experiencing overfishing went down from 13 to five . Rebuilding eight fish stocks to reach a healthy level is no mean feat. Additionally, bycatch and marine pollution have been reduced.

Experts say that countries will need to continue working together in adopting evidence-based solutions in the tuna sector. These should focus on sustainable fishing methods that reduce the environmental impact and minimize bycatch. Consumers can also do their part in protecting tuna by ensuring the tuna they buy is sustainable.

Sources: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/sustainable-tuna-fishing-key-protect-species