Science-Based Recommendations to RFMOs
Featured Content
Science-Based Recommendations to RFMOs
ISSF and its partners cooperate with and support Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), and we vigorously advocate to RFMO members for the adoption and implementation of science-based management measures so that tuna stocks and their ecosystems are managed comprehensively and sustainably.
Our advocacy priorities include:
- Implementation of rigorous harvest strategies, including harvest control rules and reference points
- Effective management of fleet capacity, including establishing mechanisms that support developing coastal state engagement in the fishery
- Science-based FAD management measures, requiring the use of both non-entangling FAD designs and biodegradable materials, and adopting FAD marking guidelines and tracking and recovery policies
- Strengthened RFMO member compliance processes, including greater transparency in these processes to ensure full compliance with all adopted measures
- Strengthened MCS measures, including tightening the regulation of at-sea transshipment; reforming vessel monitoring systems; increasing observer coverage on fishing vessels and carriers; and adopting port State measures
- Adoption of best-practice bycatch mitigation for sea turtles, sharks and rays, seabirds, and effective shark conservation and management measures
Featured Report
RFMO Best Practices Snapshot: Transshipment Regulation
Our “snapshots” identify best practices that RFMOs should follow to manage tuna fisheries sustainably. In detailed tables, the snapshots compare tuna RFMO progress in implementing the practices.
This snapshot identifies best practices in tuna RFMO transshipment regulations, and then shows each RFMO’s progress in implementing those practices. You can also review a related report, ISSF 2022-10: Transshipment: Strengthening Tuna RFMO Transshipment Regulations*.
Featured Graphic
Our “RFMO Progress” infographic series conveys how “cumulative wins” for key issues in sustainable fishing have increased over time across WCPFC, ICCAT, IATC, and IOTC.
Updated in January 2022, this infographic shows the number of tuna RFMO actions from 2013-2021 related to Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) that aligned with ISSF’s advocacy recommendations.