Chapter 7 tuna introduction
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ICCAT. As previously noted, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas was established as a result of a meeting between Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and the United States in 1966. The ICCAT officially entered into force on March 21, 1969. The purview of the ICCAT includes all waters of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas, including the Mediterranean Sea. Longitude 20oE is arbitrarily taken to be the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean to the south of Africa. ICCAT includes four panels with responsibilities as follows: Panel 1: tropical tunas (yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack) Panel 2: northern temperate tunas (albacore and Atlantic bluefin) Panel 3: Southern temperate tunas (albacore and southern bluefin) Panel 4: Other species (swordfish, billfishes, and small tunas) In addition to these four panels, there is a standing committee on research and statistics (SCRS) on which each member country of the Commission may be represented. The SCRS is responsible for developing and recommending policy and procedures for the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of fishery statistics. It is the task of the SCRS to ensure that the Commission has available complete and current statistics concerning tuna and related fishing activities in the Atlantic Ocean as well as biological information on the stocks that are fished. The SCRS also coordinates various national research activities, develops plans for special international cooperative research programs, carries out stock assessments, and advises the ICCAT on the need for specific conservation and management measures. One of the constraints limiting the effectiveness of the ICCAT is the fact that it can only make recommendations. It has no direct powers of enforcement, and as noted in the case of Atlantic bluefin, ICCAT recommendations are not always followed by the contracting parties. What has been happening to the commercial catches of tuna in the Atlantic Ocean since the ICCAT entered into force in 1969. The catch of Atlantic bluefin tuna is shown in Fig. 7.2, and the catches of albacore, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin in the Atlantic Ocean are shown in Fig. 7.6. Catches of the latter four have been more-or-less stable since roughly 1980, with skipjack and yellowfin accounting for most of the commercial catch. The Atlantic bluefin stocks, as previously noted, have been over exploited. The other stocks may be able to withstand the current level of fishing, but ICCAT studies indicate that there is no prospect for significant increases in catch. In the case of albacore, for example, the recommended total allowable catch for 2004 is 63,700 tonnes, which is virtually identical to the average annual catch of albacore from 1998 through 2002. 
Figure 7.6. Catches of albacore, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean from 1950 through 2002. IOTC. The agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was adopted at the 27th session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference in Rome on November 25, 1993. The agreement entered into force on March 27, 1997. The IOTC is an intergovernmental organization established under Article XIV of the FAO constitution. Its mandate is to manage tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas. The objective of the IOTC is to promote cooperation among its members with a view to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilization of stocks covered by its mandate and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks. The IOTC currently has 23 members, including India, Australia, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines. Among other duties, it is the responsibility of the IOTC to adopt, on the basis of scientific evidence, conservation and management measures to ensure the conservation of the stocks covered by its mandate and to promote the objective of their optimum utilization throughout the Indian Ocean. Conservation and management measures binding on members of the IOTC must be adopted by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting. However, individual members objecting to a decision are not bound by it. If objections to a measure are made by more than one-third of the members of the IOTC, the other members are not bound by that measure. The ability of individual members to avoid conservation and management measures by simply filing an objection would appear to considerably weaken the powers of the IOTC. Since the IOTC agreement has been in force only since 1997, it is difficult at this point to say how effective it may prove to be in managing Indian Ocean tuna stocks. 
Figure 7.7. Catches of albacore, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean. The historical catches of the most important tuna species in the Indian Ocean are shown in Fig. 7.7. All catches have increased substantially since 1980, but with the exception of skipjack, it appears that the catches may have stopped increasing during the last few years. Directory: oceanography -> courses html -> OCN331 OCN331 -> - oceanography -> Ocean Gyre Circulation and Patterns of Global Primary Productivity OCN331 -> - Download 0.82 Mb. Share with your friends:
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