By Neil Ramsden
The WWF has claimed a lack of impartiality on the part of Control Union Pesca, the conformity assessment body (CAB) conducting the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) assessment of an Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery.
The Usufuku Honten Northeast Atlantic longline fishery, which features a single eligible vessel, is deep into the certification process, though WWF has filed a formal objection, claiming certification "would provide a dangerous incentive to the market and compromise the long-term recovery of the stock".
Now it has said it is concerned by "unjustified high scores" that Control Union initially assigned to the performance indicators of the bluefin fishery.
Further, it has not made any changes in the scoring in response to stakeholders’ concerns expressed in the notice of objection, WWF added. This objection prompted an audit of the process by Assurance Service International (ASI).
"WWF questions the management of impartiality by the CAB as illustrated during the independent audit by the ASI, the MSC assurance partner. The audit has resulted in a red flag being raised for numerous points, for instance, Control Union assured the fishery that it would be the first bluefin tuna fishery to receive an MSC certification, when the assessor is required to be independent, objective and impartial."
To take this further: ASI found six "minor nonconformities" in the certification process, one of which was the "management of impartiality". The moment in question came when the fishery client, upon hearing that a second bluefin tuna fishery had filed for MSC assessment, expressed concern, as they wanted to be the first.
"The client explicitly asked if they were to be the first to be certified. The [Control Union] team member gave an explicit response confirming that they would be the first to be certified and that there was no reason for which the other would be firstly certified, because they were just announced," ASI reported.
WWF also maintains that Control Union has "too frequently deferred to their expert judgment rather than take a precautionary approach".
“WWF and other stakeholders have advocated for scientifically rigorous, transparent, and credible assessments within the MSC system for some years and we have still not seen significant improvements," said WWF spokesperson Giuseppe Di Carlo.
"Pressure from the industry to get the first sustainable bluefin tuna on the market risks there being a premature certification, and will sadly come at the expense of the species.”
The MSC, meanwhile, told Undercurrent News its assessment process "includes multiple layers of stakeholder scrutiny and independent review by third parties. This is to ensure the outcome is, in fact, impartial, not skewed by bias as WWF implies".
The current independent adjudication process now underway is designed to ensure the fishery assessment meets the MSC’s rigorous requirements, independently of the MSC, it added.
Further, all CABs accredited to conduct assessments to the MSC standard undergo two or three audits of this nature a year, it said. "Despite WWF’s assertion to the contrary, the 2018 audit of Control Union is evidence of this process working. This audit was conducted as part of regular reviews of Control Union by ASI. Control Union has since implemented improvements to address the areas raised by ASI."
The next step in this process is for the independent adjudicator to review written submissions from the objectors, fishery and Control Union. As part of this stage, WWF has the opportunity to provide further comment and input. There is then the potential for a hearing to further debate the outcome of the assessment. The independent adjudicator may take the outcomes of the ASI audit into consideration in their final decision.
Contact the author neil.ramsden@undercurrentnews.com