SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com] — December 2, 2013 — ISSF (International Tuna Sustainability Foundation) representatives in Cape Town were pleased at the outcome of the IATTC meetings on Atlantic tunas last week.
Three major initiatives were adopted that were highly sought by ISSF.
First, ICCAT joined the IOTC and IATTC in adopting mandatory requirements for the collection and reporting of specific FAD data by vessel operators. The collection of these data is critically important for adequately monitoring FADs and developing FAD management options. The ISSF will be asking the WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific) group to adopt a similar rule this month.
Second, ICCAT agreed to require vessels on the ICCAT authorized record of vessels 20 meters or greater to have a unique vessel identifier (UVI), such as an IMO number. This outcome will go a long way towards strengthening efforts to combat IUU fishing and controlling fishing capacity. This has already been done in the Indian ocean, and again ISSF hopes with Western and Central Pacific body will follow suit.
Third ICCAT, along with the other tropical tuna RFMOs, is continuing to move forward on the development of harvest control rules and biological reference points, which are vital to effective and science-based fisheries management. Making this commitment is a huge win for ICCAT and the tuna fisheries of the Atlantic. ICCAT adopted new quotas for northern and southern albacore stocks that are squarely within the scientific advice and which will allow these important stocks to rebuild further.
These three steps – while not making headlines like shark fin bans – taken together represent solid progress on bringing tuna management under the internationally recognized system of harvest controls, that has proven effective at preventing and ending overfishing where it has been applied.
Right from the beginning, ISSF reocgnized that in order for the global tuna fisheries to be sustainable, they had to come under the same type of scientific management regimes used in countries with successful track records of preserving and rebuilding stocks. The elements of this are scientific understanding of stocks, a management regime in place responsive to science, and enforcement mechanisms. ICCAT made progress on all of these fronts this week.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.