Maia Perraudeau, September 2023
The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) met this year from 7th to 11th August, in the city of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. The Commission meeting was preceded by a week of meetings of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP), and by meetings of the IATTC committees on finances and on compliance, and of the Permanent Working Group on Capacity of the Fleet.
This year over 20 proposals were submitted for consideration by the Commission. There was significant subject-matter overlap for many of these, with 5 different proposals submitted relating to sharks, and several relating to different aspects of FAD management. As such, the Chair encouraged parties to work together to submit consolidated versions of these proposals. As well as delegates of the Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties, the meeting was also attended by a number of environmental NGOs and industry associations.
Already by the afternoon of the third day, NGOs were particularly happy to witness the success of the joint proposal by the US, Canada, and Japan to amend the harvest control rules in the North Pacific Albacore resolution. These changes were in line with discussions which occurred in the Northern Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) earlier in July, and the hope is that these will then be implemented by the WCPFC Commission when it meets in December this year, ensuring harmonised Pacific-wide management of this stock.
The measures on sharks met with less success, however, and despite prolonged discussions it was not possible to reach consensus on the widely shared aim of requiring fins to remain naturally attached to the shark carcass. Ultimately, the adopted measure waters down this requirement by allowing different options of fin removal and storage where these allow the fin and carcass to be identified, with the measure set to be reviewed in 2026.
In relation to Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) the Commission noted with concern the small size of many Yellowfin tuna caught using FADs in the preceding year. Two notable proposals were adopted: a proposal by the EU requiring FADs to be non-entangling and setting out a timeline requiring increasingly biodegradable categories of FADs; and a proposal by Ecuador encouraging development of FAD recovery schemes.
Finally, an Ecuadorian proposal to increase observer coverage on longliners did not achieve consensus; while another Ecuadorian proposal to set out interim limits on South Pacific Albacore and promote compatibility between IATTC and WCPFC measures was also not adopted, although it was agreed to include language in the report that the IATTC took note of developments in science and management relating to this stock.
Overall, the meeting concluded with a general sense of progress and effective cooperation, although with acknowledgment by attendees that revision of the tropical tuna measure at next year’s meeting is likely to mean the 2024 Commission meeting will be significantly more contentious.
