ONLY FOUR OF THE LARGEST 30 TUNA FISHING COMPANIES DISCLOSE CATCH DATA

Only four of the largest 30 tuna fishing companies disclose catch data, exposing investors to supply chain risk.

Planet Tracker has traced 2,153 fishing vessels to the world’s largest tuna harvesting companies – revealing, for the first time, their catch volumes by stock in the absence of adequate reporting from companies.

●      Several companies – including Albacora, Maruha Nichiro, Dongwon, Bolton Group and Sajo – are key harvesters of tuna species threatened with extinction.

●      An estimated 56% of the 30 largest tuna companies’ catch is untraceable, and many of them spend more time fishing with their tracking systems turned off than on.

●      Yet, Planet Tracker finds that improving catch transparency creates a positive net financial outcome, as well as being necessary to reduce risks for investors

As the UN World Ocean Conference concludes, new research from Planet Tracker reveals for the first time the actual catch of the world’s 30 largest tuna harvesters despite their highly opaque disclosures.

The study, Tuna Turner: Investors Must Turn Up Transparency in the Tuna Industry, trawls Global Fishing Watch data to reconstruct catch volumes by species and region for all 2,153 industrial vessels fishing tuna globally. The research attributes these details for the first time to companies and the countries they are headquartered, aiming to fill in the gaps in company disclosure.

The report focuses on the 30 largest harvesters of tuna globally – the ‘Tuna 30*’ – accounting for 46% (2.4 million tonnes) of global tuna catch. Only four out of 30 firms report any tuna catch volumes, with even lower transparency on species caught, location, catch methods and certification levels: just one of the 30 companies – Bolton Group – discloses this data.

Without knowing what, where, how much and how companies fish, investors cannot know which of them are most exposed to sustainability risks. Whilst most tuna stocks are not overfished, tuna biomass has declined by 40% to 80%. And, major ecological damage persists in numerous tuna fisheries, demonstrated by millions of dead sharks and millions of plastic buoys drifting across 37% of the ocean.

The Tuna 30 overall extract 12% of their catch from stocks that are not at healthy levels of abundance or that are experiencing or might experience overfishing. Planet Tracker estimates that over 40% of the harvest from SAPMER, China National Agricultural Development Group and Maruha Nichiro comes from such stocks.

As top predators in the food chain, tuna species contribute to a healthy ocean and are allies against climate change by moving nutrients between the depths and the surface. As such, responsible tuna fishing is vital.

However, several tuna species are threatened with extinction. The research finds that Albacora, Maruha Nichiro, Dongwon, Bolton Group and Sajo are likely key harvesters of these threatened species.

Planet Tracker also finds that 56% of the Tuna 30’s catch is “dark”, meaning it could not be associated to a company due to missing ownership information or satellite data. Further, most Tuna 30 companies may be spending more time fishing with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) switched off than on.

The study estimates that better data on ownership information and eliminating these AIS gaps could improve profits and valuations in the industry by an average of 0.6% and 1% respectively within five years.

Francois Mosnier, Head of Nature at Planet Tracker, said: “It is shocking that 26 out of the world’s 30 largest tuna fishing companies do not disclose how much tuna they catch. Our report is the first-of-its-kind plugging the data gap left by companies’ lacking disclosure and satellite tracking holes. But, given the volume of missing information, we rely on estimates and sophisticated modelling.

“Better transparency, in the form of corporate disclosure on catch and AIS usage, is crucial to help investors understand the exact risks their portfolios are exposed to. We cannot distinguish good behaviour from bad behaviour without first knowing what is actually being caught, where and how on a company-by-company basis.”

Planet Tracker urges investors to demand full disclosure from tuna companies on catch data and AIS compliance as a baseline for responsible investment.

See interactive dashboard here