SUPPORT FOR THE ATLANTIC OCEAN: IPNLF POSITION STATEMENT ICCAT PANEL 1

Support for the Atlantic Ocean: IPNLF Position Statement ICCAT Panel 1. As tuna species are highly migratory, management of tuna populations span wide geographical areas that are organised into Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, or ‘RFMOs’. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is the intergovernmental fishery organisation responsible for the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent seas.

A number of scientists and organisations, such as the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), are observers to ICCAT and through position statements, provide information and data to support sustainable, transparent fisheries management.

The Commission is split into four panels, each dedicated to the management of a group of tunas. Panel 1 is the one that deals with tropical tunas and generally, ICCAT sees each panel organised once a year. The need for a third intersessional meeting of ICCAT’s Panel 1 this year highlights the challenges this Panel is facing in reaching consensus on a new tropical tuna measure, particularly for bigeye tuna.

IPNLF hopes this extra time will be effective in creating a constructive space for the Commission to discuss and prepare a proposal to be finalised at the Annual Session in November later this year.

IPNLF further believes that equitable allocation to meet the rights and needs of all nations, especially developing coastal states representing impoverished communities and small-scale fisheries,should not be conditional upon increased catches being imposed upon an already overfished stock.

It’s important that truly equitable allocation systems are developed for bigeye tuna in the new tropical tuna measure and that similar steps are taken to manage yellowfin tuna, too. Noting that the planned yellowfin tuna stock assessment is provisionally planned for 2023, IPNLF urges the Commission to ensure this stock is assessed in 2023 in order to inform timely conservation and management decisions for this stock.

Please find IPNLF’s full Position Statement ahead of the third intersessional meeting of ICCAT Panel 1, 20-22 June in Madrid, Spain, below. For questions or more information, please contact IPNLF’s Policy Manager Emilia Dyer.

What are the primary issues at ICCAT Panel 1?

Catches of tropical tuna species, bigeye (BET) and yellowfin (YFT), have exceeded their oceanwide Total Allowable Catch (TAC) allocations multiple times in recent years. Whilst BET is no longer subject to overfishing, and is showing signs of recovery, it remains overfished and should be given time to recover before it faces increased fishing pressure. The status of the YFT stock, however, remains less clear, because, since the last stock assessment in 2019, the TAC of 110,000 tonnes has been consistently exceeded, by as much as 35% in some years. This situation is expected to further degrade the health of this important stock.

What are IPNLF asking ICCAT to do?

• Adopt precautionary TAC limits for Atlantic bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks in line with the SCRS advice, which provides a high likelihood of stock recovery within the next 2 generations (15 years for BET, 14 years for YFT) and meets the needs of small-scale fishing fleets. 
• Implement stronger monitoring, conservation and management measures to prevent catches beyond the TAC, with suitable consequences for overcatch.
• Prepare and implement Harvest Control Rules (HCR) for both the bigeye and yellowfin stocks based on the latest scientific advice, and encourage the Commission to adopt HCRs for other tropical tunas as established in Rec. 15-07.

Why is this important?

When a TAC is exceeded, the effectiveness of scientifically informed management measures are undermined. Catches beyond scientifically informed catch limits put the stock, and ocean ecosystems, under greater pressure by reducing its productivity and, therefore, its ability to recover from overfishing. This ultimately puts the future of the fishery, and the livelihoods it supports, in jeopardy, with strong socio-economic impacts, particularly on the cohesion of many coastal communities.

What are the primary issues at ICCAT?

Current allocation mechanisms do not include developing States in an equitable way and IPNLF are concerned by ongoing suggestions that the bigeye TAC should be increased in order to meet the more equitable allocation needs of developing coastal States.

What are IPNLF asking ICCAT to do?

• Adopt an equitable approach to distributing precautionary TACs for each species, which critically supports the rights, needs and aspirations of developing coastal States through achieving a more equitable allocation of fishing opportunities, irrespective of the overarching TAC limit.
• IPNLF supports the “small harvesters” proposal, co-developed and submitted by South Africa, Japan and Brazil (PA1_25). We also suggest that redistribution of quota should be done in percentages for all states to ensure longevity of equity regardless of changing annual TAC.
• Consider developing, with the rest of the Commission, an updated allocation criteria from Resolution 15/13 in which socio-economic dependence, coastal state livelihoods and gear selectivity are primary factors.

Why is this important?

Tuna stocks are internationally shared natural resources, upon which millions of people financially and socially depend on around the world. As a result, despite their shared importance for large multinational fishing companies, the equity of allocated fishing opportunities should be at the heart of allocation discussions. IPNLF believes that equitable allocation to meet the rights and needs of all nations, especially developing coastal states representing impoverished communities and small-scale fisheries, should not be conditional upon increased catches being imposed upon an already overfished stock.  Equity should be proactively, inherently and unavoidably incorporated within all RFMO allocation mechanisms.

What are the primary issues at ICCAT?

In the Atlantic, both the bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks face immense pressure due to excessive juvenile harvests which are driven most by industrial purse seine fleets’ use of drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs). These devices have a number of ecological impacts including changes to tuna migrations and, in parallel to direct tuna stock impacts, the current use and regular abandonment of entangling dFAD designs that are not fully composed of biodegradable materials causes ghost fishing, habitat damage and marine pollution. Many believe that current dFAD use contravenes marine pollution law and frequently represents illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing when dFADs enter national waters and marine protected areas without permissions or transparent monitoring.

What are IPNLF asking ICCAT to do?

• Maintain or extend the ocean wide 72-day FAD Closure, which is an important component of the suite of measures supporting BET stock recovery. There is no scientific evidence to suggest shortening or reducing the scope of the current FAD Closure would provide any stock benefits, so IPNLF believe it should be maintained as a recovery enabling precautionary measure.
• Make all dFAD data transparent and available within a public dFAD Registry that would enable scientific analysis, monitoring and compliance monitoring.
• Implement an independent dFAD Monitoring System that will track drifting FAD movements on ocean currents, enable compliance monitoring, determine the ultimate fate of all deployed dFADs and inform efforts to recover dFADs before they illegally fish in waters where they are not permitted or damage sensitive coastal ecosystems.
• Further investigate and react to multiple warnings from scientists that high proportions of juvenile BET and YFT in dFAD catches reduce the potential sustainable Maximum Sustainable Yields (MSY) for these stocks as a larger spawning stock biomass is required to compensate for juvenile harvests. This is the current driver of the need for greater precaution when making fisheries management decisions and, clearly, ongoing efforts to dilute dFAD regulations and to increase TACs, dominated by juvenile harvests around dFADs, contradict these warnings.
• Mandate that all dFADs deployed must be non-entangling (prohibiting netting or other meshed materials), and constructed from biodegradable materials, and require vessels to retrieve those that do not meet these requirements.

Why is this important?

The SCRS have clearly and regularly emphasised the need to protect both the bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks from excessive juvenile harvests, which are mostly driven by dFAD use. During the most recent intersessional meeting of Panel 1, the SCRS Chair provided an excellent explanation as to how reducing juvenile catches can increase the potential sustainable MSY which reduces the risks and need for precaution within fisheries management decision making. This emphasised that effective FAD management measures are critical in enabling the Commission to meet its sustainability objectives.

Ambitious steps have been taken in other ocean areas to implement effective FAD management and improve the transparency of purse seine fisheries use of dFAD fisheries, so we urge ICCAT to also incorporate additional improvements such as those endorsed at the recent IOTC Special Session. Measures to improve transparency and data availability are particularly important at ICCAT where requests for “more science” are delaying action to ensure dFAD use can be sustainable in future.

The Atlantic yellowfin tuna stock currently has a TAC of 110,000 t, this has been exceeded for a number of consecutive years, most notably in 2020 when catches reached 149,202 t, 35% over TAC. In order to prevent deterioration of the stock into an overfished state, IPNLF encourage the Commission to:

• Implement stronger conservation and management measures to prevent catches beyond the TAC, with suitable consequences for overcatch.
• Limit the use and  impacts of drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs), which are a key driver of juvenile harvests from this stock.
• Prepare a Harvest Control Rule (HCR) for yellowfin tuna ahead of the stock assessment provisionally planned for 2023.
• Develop and implement a YFT allocation table which includes all CPCs, similar to what has been proposed for BET.

Noting that the planned yellowfin tuna stock assessment is provisionally planned for 2023, IPNLF urges the Commission to ensure this stock is assessed in 2023 in order to inform timely conservation and management decisions for this stock.

The ICCAT Convention Area is home to many one-by-one tuna fisheries, including pole-and-line (baitboat), troll, and handline fisheries harvesting temperate and tropical Atlantic tuna in at least sixteen Atlantic coastal States. All require sustainable management of internationally shared fish stocks by ICCAT to support their fisheries and reliant communities.

The International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), an international charity that supports responsible one-by-one tuna fisheries and the communities, businesses and seas connected to them, is one of the founding members of the Outermost Regions Advisory Council (CC RUP or ORAC); this council recommends measures for the responsible management of fishery resources in the outermost regions of the EU. These regions include islands, archipelagos and land territories in the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean basin and the Indian Ocean.

The International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF) promotes the sustainable management of the world’s responsible pole-and-line, handline and troll (collectively known as ‘one-by-one’) tuna fisheries while also recognising the importance of safeguarding the livelihoods they support.

IPNLF’s work to develop, support and promote one-by-one tuna fisheries is fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We believe effective and equitable global governance is essential to protect and restore the ocean, and this should be achieved by ensuring the recognition of local and coastal communities’ needs in decision-making processes.

Environmental sustainability in tuna fisheries can only be fully achieved by also putting an end to the overfishing and excessively destructive fishing practices that are driving the degradation of already threatened marine species, habitats and ecosystems. Allied with its members, IPNLF demonstrates the value of one-by-one caught tuna to consumers, policymakers and throughout the supply chain. IPNLF works across science, policy and the seafood sector, using an evidence-based, solutions-focused approach with strategic guidance from our Board of Trustees and advice from our Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and Market Advisory Group (MAG).

IPNLF was officially registered in the United Kingdom in 2012 (Charity 1145586), with branch offices in the UK, South Africa, Indonesia, The Netherlands, and the Maldives.