Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative (SIOTI)

FIP Stage: 5 (Improvements on the Water)

Progress Rating: A (Advanced Progress)

Start Date: April 2017

Last Updated: March 2022

The Indian Ocean is one of the world’s most economically important fishing areas – now accounting for 20% of the world’s production of tuna. Each year around one million tonnes of skipjack, yellowfin, and bigeye tuna are caught within the waters of the Indian Ocean, providing a source of protein and income for tens of millions of people across the globe.

The Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative (SIOTI) was jointly established by major tuna processors, and producer organizations and their fishing vessels in the region, along with the support of WWF. The goal is to improve the management of tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean so that in the future, consumers can be assured that the purse-seine tuna they purchase is harvested sustainably.

This fishery is predominately used for export to the European market and the vessels are flagged to Spain, France, Italy, Seychelles, and Mauritius.

Tuna are highly migratory, which presents unique challenges for this fishery. The development of international management measures across countries in the Indian Ocean is critical to ensure that tuna are fished sustainably and that target stocks are at healthy population levels. As this fishery relies on fish aggregating devices (FADs) to catch skipjack, reducing the number and subsequently the impact of FADs on the wider marine environment is a key task for the FIP.

Since 2016, the active involvement of FIP Stakeholders, including the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), has catalyzed improvements in this fishery against the Stewardship Council (MSC) standard.