It is reported that the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) has taken strict step toward critical science-based conservation measures to help Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) bigeye recover from overfishing. It is said that IATTC has stopped short of adopting the complete set of recommendations from its Scientific Staff. International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) President Susan Jackson opined that they are content calling this a beginning but it’s certainly not the end.
At the annual meeting in California all 16 IATTC member nations have accepted a series of conservation measures ad referendum, which allows Colombia additional time to consider. It is informed that the tentative agreement includes a purse seine fishing closure to last from 59-73 days that, along with other allied measures, will reduce fishing effort by roughly 20 percent over the next 3 years.
It was decided in the meeting that a large area in the Pacific Northwest of the Galapagos Islands will be closed for one month to protect young bigeye tuna. Longline catches of adult bigeye will be restricted up to 9 percent. Dr. William Fox, WWF – US, VP for Fisheries and ISSF Board member, said that conservation measures take political willpower and the member nations of the IATTC showed they are beginning to muster up enough to get the ball rolling.
Jackson told that they are committed to supporting sound, science-based management of all tuna stocks and we will continue working with the IATTC. It is said that the ISSF Board of Directors will review its position when final IATTC conservation measures – and countries agreeing to those measures – are announced next month.
