ATUNEROS CONGELADORES Y TRANSPORTES FRIGORÍFICOS, S.A. (ATUNSA) hereby publicly prohibits the practice of shark finning aboard its vessels (ISSF C.M. 3.1 (a)), understood as the retention on board of shark fins and discarding the remaining carcass while at sea, and requires that all sharks be landed with fins naturally attached, if retained.

ATUNSA also prohibits any persons, including captains and crew members, on board its fishing and/or supply vessels from shooting, harpooning, stabbing, or in any way intentionally harming marine mammals, or from eating the meat of marine mammals or selling any part of marine mammals (teeth, blubber, meat, etc.).

ATUNSA also prohibits setting intentionally on whale sharks or marine mammals. In this sense, ATUNSA will not knowingly catch, store, sell and distribute tuna caught by intentional encirclement of marine mammals in purse seine nets in any of the world’s ocean.

ATUNSA, due to its commitment with the environment, since 2015 has not allowed the use of FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) with a high risk of entanglement, as defined in the 2013 ISSF Guide on non-entangling FADs.

This policy shall apply to all new FAD deployments, regardless of the type of vessel that deploys the FADs.

In this sense, the FADs used by ATUNSA vessels, follow the below guidelines:

• If a net is used in the construction of the grid and/or the submerged part in the oceans that are allowed, they can only be of small mesh (< 7 cms).
• ATUNSA will carry out tests with material without net, aiming that from April 1^st of 2025, all FADs will be planted without using nets in every ocean where its vessels operate.
• In visits to FADs that are followed by a change of beacon owned by the fleet, entangling materials will be replaced by non-entangling materials following the criteria defined in the Good Practices Code, whenever appropriate.

ATUNSA will make every effort to use biodegradable materials in the construction of these new non-entangling FADs and will make an effort to collect entangling FADs that their ships locate at sea and take them to the port to treat them as waste.

For this purpose, ATUNSA participates in projects and tests with biodegradable FADs and in FAD recovery programs with the participation of national scientists.

* CM 3.5 will be repealed and replaced by CM 3.7 as of 1 April 2025

ATUNSA, requires onboard its vessels the use of the following best practices for FAD management, identified in ISSF Technical Report 2023-10 which updates ISSF Technical Report 2019-11, “Recommended Best Practices for FAD management in Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fisheries”:

• Comply with the data submission requirements established by the Flag State and the RFMO science bodies for statistics.
• Voluntarily report additional FAD buoy data (FAD daily position data and echosounder acoustic records) for use by RFMO science bodies.

We commit to provide FAD buoy echo-sounder acoustic biomass data to the relevant national scientific institutions and RFMO science bodies with a maximum time lag of 90 days. Data submissions will include the vessel name and IMO number (if available).In the event that purse seine vessels and supply vessels covered by the policy report these data to national scientific institutions and/or its Flag State, they shall document that they requested that these data be made available to the relevant RFMO for scientific purposes.

In the same way, the daily position data of FADs is provided, within a maximum period of 90 days, to national scientist institutions, and they will share it with the RFMO science bodies.

Data submissions includes the vessel name and IMO and, deployments should be identified when possible. In the event that purse seine vessels and supply vessels covered by the policy report these data to national scientific institutions and/or its Flag State, they shall document that they requested that these data be made available to the relevant RFMO for scientific purposes.

• Support science-based limits on the overall number of FADs use per vessel and/or FAD sets made.
• Use only non-entangling FADs to reduce ghost fishing.

We commit to only deploying or redeploying (i.e. placing in the water) FADs that are completely non-entangling, without any netting components, including both the raft and the tail,  according to the ISSF Guide for Non-Entangling FADs.

We also commit to retrieving, where practicable, any encountered pre-existing non-fully Non Entangling FAD (whether a set is done or not) which is not in compliance with this measure as well as to reduce the environmental impacts caused by the loss of FADs through the use of biodegradable FADs and FAD recovery policies. In this sense, we cooperate in the development and application mechanism that prevent the drift of FADs towards habitats and areas with a high risk of standing.

• Mitigate other environmental impacts due to FAD loss including through the use of biodegradable FADs and FAD recovery policies.

We commit to participate in trials of biodegradable FAD designs and test as well as in trials of FAD recovery programs, both with the participation of the relevant RFMO science bodies and/or coastal States, national scientist, and/or ISSF scientist to monitor experimental design.

In addition, ATUNSA participates in projects with AZTI and the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO) for the improvement of the management and knowledge of the impact of FADs, studying the feasibility of deploying simpler and smaller FADs.

• For silky sharks (the main bycatch issue in FAD sets) implement further mitigation efforts.

We commit to applying Best Practices for safe handling and release of sharks and rays brought onboard, providing training to the crew in this matter.

This policy was updated on the 02^nd of January 2025.