On February 2, 2012, leading Hawaii-based seafood processing and distribution company Norpac Fisheries Export announced that it has forged a partnership with Indonesian tuna fishing company PT Sari Segara Utama to explore the use of sustainable fishing methods. The partnership will expand both companies’ effort to use circle hooks in tuna fishing to reduce the rate of uninte nded bycatch specifically threatened species such as sea turtles. The new partnership was formed during the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Regional Business Forum held in October 2011 in Kuala Lumpur supported by USAID and WWF.

The forum gathered business, government and civil society leaders advocating strong public and private partnerships for the sustainability of the six Coral Triangle nations – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. Norpac has the largest fleet of long line fishing vessels in the Western Pacific and over 2,000 employees worldwide. The company says the new partnership supports its commitment to use only environment-friendly fishing methods.  Check out the statement from Norpac here.

Caption: A fishermen shows the difference between a circle hook and a j-hook. The former is easier to remove and has lesser impact on bycatch compared to the latter. Credit: WWF