When Economy Meets Ecology, is it Truly Conflicted? A Dashboard Approach to Assess the Sustainability Performance of European Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fisheries

In the context of the marine ecosystem ecological crisis, assessing the sustainability performance of fisheries has become a priority. Using European tropical tuna purse seine fleets as a case study, we show how a multidisciplinary dashboard approach can be used to determine historical and current sustainability performances of fishing fleets to improve understanding of the links between the multiple dimensions of sustainability and to highlight management policy priorities. Based on a set of 18 indicators and using a principal component analysis method, we evaluated the environmental, economic and social sustainability performances of these fleets. We compared the average fleet performances for 2015–2019 with the other tuna fishing fleets in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We then analysed the evolution of sustainability performance of European tuna purse seiners from 2009 to 2019.Our results illustrate that the purse seiners currently fishing the Indian Ocean have better ecological performances than those fishing the Atlantic, thanks to healthier tuna stocks. Performance related to impacts on marine ecosystems contrasts between tuna fishing gears. Purse seiners, especially those fishing on free school, were more selective than other gears. From 2009 to 2019, their economic performance increased while their social performance stabilised. The recent development of the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), to the detriment of free school fishing strategy caused a loss of performance in ecology and social dimensions. Purse seiners fishing on FADs had more juvenile tuna catches, lower species selectivity, a higher carbon footprint and a lower average salary for fishermen. Fishing on FADs implied a higher fuel consumption, which is one of the major expenses for fishing fleets. Our results confirm that it is ecologically and economically justified to incite purse seine fleets to reduce fishing on FADs.