Last Monday, November the 19th, Albacora hosted a workshop on best fishing practices of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).
The aim of these workshops, guided by a team of AZTI Tecnalia and ISSF scientists, is to teach best practices to mitigate the impact of fisheries on the marine ecosystem.
In this session, scientists talked about the state of tuna stocks, and bycatch, to the officers and mariners from different Albacora crews attending the workshop. In this regard, they discussed techniques for the safe release of sharks, turtles, manta rays and other species, which aim for the animals to be returned to the sea in the best possible conditions. The crew members added their point of view to the debate, based on their practical experience at sea.
Another point of discussion, which the sailors actively participated in, was Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). Since 2012, the FADs used by the Albacora fleet are non-entangling, which means that they are built in such a way as to avoid the entanglement of vulnerable species. Aiming to take a step further in the efforts to reduce the impact on the environment, the scientists of AZTI and ISSF explained the latest advances made in research projects to develop biodegradable FADs.