Ecuador Just Dropped a Bombshell on the Global Tuna Industry — And It Could Save the Oceans | Olive: Your Holistic Health Companion for Cleaner Living Blogs

Ecuador Just Dropped a Bombshell on the Global Tuna Industry — And It Could Save the Oceans

Good news for our ocean’s tuna populations comes from Ecuador, where TUNACONS (Tuna Conservation Group) is working to make the country’s offshore tuna-fishing fleets more environmentally and socially sustainable, reports Food Tank.

Ecuador ranks only behind Thailand in supplying tuna to the world, especially to the American, Japanese, and European markets, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Underwater purse seine net capturing tuna with sea turtles, sharks, and reef fish as bycatch, filmed by camera rig.

TUNACONS was founded in 2015 by multiple industry leaders across Ecuador, Panama, and the United States with support from WWF Ecuador. TUNACON’s Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) is designed to implement science-based yield practices, deliver technical training for industry professionals, and reduce the tuna industry’s environmental impact on marine ecosystems, notes Food Tank.

Tuna fishing fleets use purse seine nets to surround enormous schools of tuna. However, sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, and other non-targeted fish are often considered bycatch, reports the FAO. Furthermore, lost nets, which are almost invisible, have created numerous traps that also catch fish, turtles, and dolphins. The process by which nets are lost in the sea, where they continue to decimate fish populations, is known as ghost fishing.

Traditional bamboo raft with woven palm deck and rope netting in turquoise water, fish swimming below.

Modern tuna fleets also use diabolical Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). These floating or anchored structures are designed to mimic floating ocean debris, aggregating tuna into a single killing zone. FADs are often “made from synthetic, non-biodegradable materials, which can contribute to ocean plastic pollution if they are lost at sea,” notes Food Tank. “But through the ECOFADs program, TUNACONS is working to address marine pollution by manufacturing FADs produced entirely of biodegradable materials. In 2020, 20 percent of the TUNACONS fleet had already made the switch. By 2029, the rest will follow…”

There’s still a need for more progress. TUNACON has developed a best-practices manual and has observers aboard its fleet, watching practices in action, and teaching crew members how to safely release and return non-target species from the nets, alive and healthy, to the sea. TUNACON’s fleet is 58 ships. That is just over half of the 108 total ships in the nation’s tuna fleet, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

With all this in mind, shoppers can do their part to foster a healthy global population by selecting products with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Blue label. TUNACONS (Tuna Conservation Group) in Ecuador earned its initial Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for yellowfin tuna in 2022 and subsequently earned the certification for skipjack tuna in 2023. In 2025, the fleet successfully achieved full MSC certification for its entire tuna catches (including yellowfin, skipjack, and bigeye tuna), says We Are Aquaculture.

The MSC blue fish label means the product carrying it is made with wild-caught, certified sustainable seafood that meets the MSC Fisheries Standard, a set of sustainability requirements that a fishery must demonstrate it meets. These requirements ensure that the seafood:

Comes from abundant fish stocks.
Was fished in a way that minimizes environmental impact.
Is sourced from a fishery that has effective management in place, complies with relevant local and international regulations, and can adapt to changing conditions.