International Commissions Renew Tropical Tuna Measures

International Commissions Renew Tropical Tuna Measures

The IATTC and WCPFC are international fishery management organizations that meet annually to manage highly migratory fish stocks, such as tropical tunas.

Image: P. Opic.

Both the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC, oversees tuna fisheries in waters east of Hawai‘i) and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) had tropical tuna conservation and management measures (CMMs) set to expire at the end of the 2020 fishing year. The annual meetings were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This made interpersonal negotiations and the free-flow of ideas very difficult. At the IATTC meeting (Nov. 30–Dec. 4, 2020), several nations objected to the lack of purse seine fish aggregating device (FAD) set limits. Limiting use of FADs reduces the possibility of large catches of juvenile bigeye tuna in sets targeting skipjack. The meeting ended without any agreement on CMMs for tropical tunas (i.e., bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack tuna).

The WCPFC meeting (Dec. 7–15, 2020) opted to avoid this situation and agreed to roll over its existing CMMs for tropical tunas. However, several nations noted shortcomings to the existing measures with respect to longline catch limits for bigeye tuna, purse seine FAD limits/closures and the distribution of purse seine effort. The WCPFC agreed to explore intersessional working groups and workshops to develop possible CMMs (beginning in April) before its next meeting in December 2021.

The IATTC met again in an “extraordinary’” meeting Dec. 22, 2020, where country delegations worked together on future provisions. The meeting followed the WCPFC’s example of authorizing the current tropical tuna measure to roll over another year while taking steps to address continuing concerns.