Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, Morrisons and Co-op join major seafood brands and WWF in campaign to stop Indian Ocean fish stocks collapsing.

Major European seafood brands and the UK’s largest supermarkets – including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and the Co-op – are backing a call to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean to stop stocks collapsing.

The companies, along with WWF, are urging the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission(IOTC) to reduce catches by 20% and introduce harvest control rules to ensure the sustainability of all Indian Ocean tuna stocks, including skipjack.

The international plea comes ahead of the 20th annual meeting of the IOTC, an intergovernmental organisation responsible for the management of tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean, in May. The brands that have signed the letter to the IOTC include Princes, John West and Iglo, Europe’s largest frozen foods business which includes Birds Eye and Findus.

Europe imports more seafood than any other region or country globally, absorbing nearly a quarter (24%) of the world’s production. The European Union is also the main single export market for Indian Ocean tuna products – 1.2m tonnes.

According to the latest stock assessment carried out by the IOTC, overfishing of yellowfin tuna has been rife in the Indian Ocean since 2013. The commission, responsible for conservation and management of tuna and other marine resources in the Indian Ocean, has also stated that if immediate steps are not taken to end overfishing and rebuild the seriously depleted stock, there is a high risk of stock collapse within just five years.

Despite regular warnings from the IOTC’s scientific committee - which advises fisheries managers - catches of yellowfin tuna continue to increase, in excess of recommended limits. After 20 years of talks, the WWF says the commission has yet to adopt any effective measures to control the exploitation of tuna stocks.

“The industry and communities that rely on a healthy yellowfin stock are rightly concerned by the IOTC’s predictions of a stock collapse in the near future, which would place their livelihoods under threat,” said Dr Wetjens Dimmlich, WWF Indian Ocean tuna programme manager

“Measures need to be taken immediately to begin rebuilding the stocks of yellowfin tuna to sustainable levels. With the clear support of such a broad cross section of the tuna fishing community, WWF hopes the IOTC commissioners will respond to this call for action and take steps to protect the industry they are responsible for.”

In 2012, the global tuna catch reached a record high of more than 7m tonnes. Skipjack was the biggest contributor to the global tuna market, contributing about 58% to the 2011 catch of principal tunas, followed by yellowfin which contributes around 27%.

Last year research from WWF and the Zoological Society of London revealed that tuna and mackerel populations had suffered a “catastrophic” decline of nearly three-quarters in the last 40 years.