{"id":10593,"date":"2016-11-04T01:01:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T05:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/chasing-charlie\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T01:02:26","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T05:02:26","slug":"chasing-tuna","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/chasing-tuna\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing Tuna"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tuna industry is one of the most environmentally conscious industries out there, mainly because such variables as ocean temperatures and sea levels are fundamental for the effectivity of the catch of this animal. Furthermore, this is a very global industry as well, considering that fishing occurs mostly in international waters, prices are extremely correlated to the balance between supply and demand of this product. Therefore, for local fishing companies, productivity is key to maintain their profitability despite variability and seasonality. Ironically, their oversensitivity and consciousness with the environment in combination with their profitability interests (ensuring there\u2019s sufficient tuna to fish and sell for years to come) allows them to have these seemingly opposite goals aligned.<\/p>\n

Starkist Co. is one of the largest companies in the industry which has a 36% (7) market share in the United States. Starkist has done significant efforts to ensure that the tuna it sells comes from healthy supply chains, both in fishing practices as well as working environments for the people aboard the ships (4). Starkist is part of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) which is comprised of several scientists and managers that provide a framework for the entire industry to ensure all parties share the best practices that bolster the sustainability of tuna, based on scientific data (3). The mission of ISSF is that the tuna fisheries worldwide are successfully and sustainably managed by their governments, until then, they will continue to research, propose new practices, come up with regulation and policies and communicate these findings to the industry.<\/p>\n

This is a US$ 10 billion global industry (1) which interacts with almost every country in the world, navigates through international waters and manages animals overly sensitive to environmental factors. Thus, it is quite astonishing that the approach of the sustainability efforts is limited to only ensuring there\u2019s enough tuna for generations to come. There\u2019s hardly any mention of\u00a0global warming in any of the major websites of this industry, particularly none in Starkist\u2019s. But why is this happening and why is it so important?<\/p>\n

First and foremost, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which is the document that provides the global legal guidelines for the industry was signed in 1982 (5). This 34-year-old document was updated in 2013 but, isn\u2019t global warming\u2019s prioritization for nations today incomparable to what it was in the 80s? In my opinion, it is and it is one of the main reasons this continues to happen, and this is further explained in Sarah Hauck\u2019s article in Conservation International (1). On the other hand, it is extremely important because of the possible repercussions on the environment explained by the World Bank website (2):<\/p>\n