{"id":1442,"date":"2026-08-02T22:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1442"},"modified":"2026-08-02T22:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:45:00","slug":"vietnam-tuna-wcpfc","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/vietnam-tuna-wcpfc\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam, the world's seventh largest, rushes to prepare fisheries data\u2014WCPFC membership will shape tuna procurement for Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam, which ranked seventh in the world in fisheries production in 2024, has begun moving toward full membership of the WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission), the international body that manages Pacific tuna resources. On July 28, 2026, a national workshop to strengthen its capacity to fulfill membership obligations was held in Khanh Hoa province, a tuna-landing hub, where Dr. Graham Pilling of the Pacific Community (SPC) reported on the current state of the country's fisheries data. The focus is not on the size of the catch, but on whether the catch can be shown in figures as to \"where and how it was caught.\" Because this is an issue that concerns the very premise on which Japanese buyers buy Vietnamese tuna, it is a development that procurement and import practitioners cannot overlook.<\/p>\n

Observer coverage of 0% and operating records of 25\u201350% are turning the world's seventh-largest catch into \"figures that cannot be proven\"<\/h2>\n

The Vietnamese fisheries data Dr. Pilling presented at the workshop reflected a mismatch between production scale and the management system. While reporting of annual catch estimate (ACE) reaches up to 100%, the coverage of observers who board fishing vessels to confirm the actual situation is 0%. The recording rate of operating records (logbooks), which note daily fishing on board, stays at only 25\u201350%, and the collection of fish-length samples is also limited. The subjects are tuna species such as yellowfin, albacore and longtail, and billfish.<\/p>\n

What these figures mean is that although Vietnam can state the total of \"how much it caught,\" its footing for proving to third parties \"in which waters, and in compliance with regulations, each individual fish was caught\" is weak. Even if the total volume is correct, if the granularity of proof is coarse, it is disadvantageous on both resource management and market access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Data item<\/th>\nVietnam's current coverage rate<\/th>\nWhat it means<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Annual catch estimate (ACE)<\/td>\nUp to 100%<\/td>\nGrasp of the total volume is advancing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Operating records (logbooks)<\/td>\n25\u301c50%<\/td>\nMore than half of the backing for waters and fishing methods is missing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fish-length samples<\/td>\nLimited<\/td>\nHard to raise the accuracy of resource assessment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Observer coverage rate<\/td>\n0%<\/td>\nOn-site verification by third parties does not yet exist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(Figures are based on the SPC report at the July 28, 2026 workshop. The table is organized for understanding.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Full WCPFC membership widens the gateway for tuna procurement to Japan; a run-up as a cooperating non-member since 2009<\/h2>\n

Vietnam has held the position of a cooperating non-member of the WCPFC since 2009. It has paid annual contributions and partially participated in Pacific tuna-management rules, but is not a full member. This workshop was a venue to confirm the path to finishing that run-up and moving to full membership. Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance, emphasized efforts toward resource conservation and sustainable use, and WCPFC Executive Director Rhea Moss-Christian assessed that \"there has been positive progress in improving the legal system, complying with international rules, and standardizing fisheries data collection.\"<\/p>\n

Why does full membership connect to the procurement story? Tuna caught under WCPFC management comes with catch certification in line with the member-state framework. This certification connects with the traceability requirements of importing countries, including Japan. Membership is not a diplomatic title but is closer to a passport for Vietnamese tuna to enter markets as \"a product of managed fisheries.\" Vietnam has already been advancing the installation of VMS (vessel monitoring systems) on fishing vessels of 15 meters or more and the introduction of an electronic certification system, and full membership amounts to the stage of having these foundations recognized internationally.<\/p>\n

Japanese buyers confirm the \"where it was caught\" of yellowfin and albacore via catch certification and VMS tracks<\/h2>\n

Japanese seafood procurement has passed the era of moving on price and freshness alone. For imported seafood including tuna, a flow has taken hold of confirming \"whether it was caught legally, in managed waters\" through a set of documents such as catch certificates, vessel registration information and VMS track data. Domestic and international frameworks that exclude raw materials derived from IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing are backing this verification.<\/p>\n

Here the figure of 0% observer coverage comes into play. Without third-party eyes on board, the independent evidence backing logbook entries thins. When Japanese buyers continuously procure Vietnamese yellowfin and albacore, whether the production side's proof relies on documents or is underpinned by VMS and observers becomes the dividing line in risk assessment. In practice, a move has taken hold of checking at every purchase whether, even at a reasonable price, the proof needed to pass EU and US regulations is in place, and the difference in proof power tends to be reflected directly in trading conditions. The development of data is, from the Vietnamese side, a breakwater for market access, and from the Japanese side, a yardstick for procurement decisions. This picture the move in which Vietnamese production areas got ahead of seven new Japanese regulations<\/a> also overlaps with this. The sequence in which rules come first and production areas bring their response forward is happening in seafood too.<\/p>\n

A different axis from the environmental proof of low-emission shrimp: for wild tuna, the operating data itself becomes the proof<\/h2>\n

When \"proof of procurement\" is discussed in Vietnamese seafood, what has drawn attention until now has been the aquaculture side. For example, in Ca Mau province, the EU and an NGO spent 42 months on the \"low-emission shrimp\" initiative<\/a>, which asks whether environmental impact can be turned into added value as proof. Because aquaculture allows the production process to be designed, proof can be built up from management items such as feed, water quality and emissions.<\/p>\n

Wild tuna is a different matter. Because the production process cannot be designed by people, the substance of proof becomes the operating data itself\u2014\"when, in which waters, and with which fishing method it was caught.\" That is precisely why observers and logbooks bear the skeleton of proof, and whether procurement is possible is decided on a different axis from the environmental proof of aquaculture. If Japanese food manufacturers and trading houses build Vietnamese seafood into their portfolios, they need to understand that the yardsticks differ between the environmental proof of farmed products and the operating proof of wild tuna. Even for the same \"Vietnamese seafood,\" the way proof is created differs fundamentally.<\/p>\n

If electronic logbooks and the observer network are filled in, Vietnam can become an outlet for tuna to Japan<\/h2>\n

Current tuna exports are by no means easy figures. By VASEP's (Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers) tally, tuna exports in the first half of 2026 were about US$452.7 million (roughly 70 billion yen at 155 yen to the dollar, approximate), down 2.0% year on year. However, June alone was US$85.9 million, up 28% year on year, showing signs of a monthly recovery. Still, the swings in supply volume are large, and the circumstance that it is hard to commit to stable year-round procurement remains.<\/p>\n

Even so, the direction can be read positively. If the 0% observer coverage is raised in stages and the logbook recording rate is lifted through digitalization, the granularity of proof moves from document-reliant to a measured basis. The thicker the proof, the easier it becomes for Japanese buyers to continue ordering Vietnamese tuna with confidence. The Japanese market is in a position that grips the hidden opening of \"processing\" within Vietnam's US$5.8 billion seafood<\/a>, and if the proof power of raw materials rises, the room for that processing demand to mesh with Vietnam's supply widens. The development of data toward full WCPFC membership is both an obligation of resource management and an investment that thickens the outlet for supply to Japan. For the Japanese procurement side, now is a good opportunity to assess, by production area, how far the proof systems for Vietnamese tuna have advanced.<\/p>\n

Sources referenced<\/h2>\n