RFMOs: ICCAT

2025 ICCAT Position Statement (French)

Written by svanouse on October 27, 2025.

L’ISSF a préparé cette déclaration de position pour examen lors de la 29^ème réunion annuelle de la Commission Internationale pour la Conservation des Thonidés de l’Atlantique (CICTA), du 17 au 24 novembre 2025.

La déclaration couvre des sujets dans ces catégories: processus de conformité; conservation des ressources en thon; gestion des dispositifs de concentration de poissons (DCP); présence d’observateurs et monitoring électronique (ME); réglementations régissant les transbordements; procédures de gestion efficaces (stratégies d’exploitation); réduction des prises accessoires mesures de protection des requins; et la capacité. La déclaration comprend les principales « demandes » de l’ISSF ou demandes de CICTA.

Des traductions anglaises et espagnoles de cette déclaration sont disponibles.

2025 ICCAT Position Statement (Spanish)

Written by svanouse on October 27, 2025.

La ISSF preparó esta declaración de posición para su consideración en la 29ª reunión ordinaria de la Comisión Internacional para la Conservación del Atún Atlántico (CICAA) del 17 al 24 de noviembre de 2025.

La declaración cubre temas en estas categorías: procesos de acatamiento; conservación del stock de atún; ordenación de los dispositivos de concentración de peces (DCP); monitoreo electrónico (EM) y reportes y cobertura de observadores; reglamentos para el transbordo; procedimientos de ordenación eficaz (estrategias de captura); mitigación de la captura incidental y protección de los tiburones; y capacidad. La declaración incluye las principales “solicitudes” de la ISSF o solicitudes de CICAA.

Se encuentran disponibles traducciones al inglés y al francés de esta declaración.

2025 ICCAT Position Statement (English)

Written by svanouse on October 23, 2025.

ISSF prepared this position statement for consideration at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) 29th regular meeting on November 17-24, 2025.

The statement covers topics in these categories: compliance processes; tuna stock conservation; fish aggregating device (FAD) management; electronic monitoring and reporting and observer coverage; port state measures; effective management procedures (harvest strategies); bycatch mitigation and shark protections; labor and social issues; and capacity. The statement includes ISSF’s top “asks” or requests of ICCAT.

French and Spanish translations of this statement will be available.

ISSF 2025-10: Summary of the First International Workshop on FAD Retrieval: May 8–10, 2024, Galápagos, Ecuador

Written by svanouse on September 4, 2025.

The First International Workshop on the Recovery of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs, known locally in the eastern Pacific Ocean as “plantados”) was held May 8–10, 2024, at the Charles Darwin Foundation facilities in Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador. The workshop was organized by the Tuna Conservation Group (TUNACONS), the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), and WWF Ecuador. The objective of the workshop was to address the following question: How should a FAD Recovery Program (FRP) be designed to ensure its efficiency?

A total of 63 key stakeholders participated in the workshop, including fishers, vessel owners, manufacturers and satellite buoy service providers, fishing associations, governments, scientists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Participants shared their knowledge and experience working with FADs as well as insights into the design of FRPs. The workshop addressed the logistical, technical, and economic aspects necessary to ensure the efficiency of such programs. Finally, participants identified the steps required to design and implement a FAD recovery program, both within the Galápagos Marine Reserve and in other parts of the world.

ISSF 2025-08: An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria*

Written by svanouse on June 25, 2025.

This is a June 2025 version of a report ISSF has published since 2013.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has established a program whereby a fishery may be certified as being sustainable. The sustainability of a fishery is defined by MSC criteria that are embodied in three Principles: relating to the status of the stock, the ecosystem of which the stock is a member, and the fishery management system.

Since many of these MSC criteria are comparable for global tuna stocks, the MSC scoring system was used to evaluate 23 stocks of tropical and temperate tunas throughout the world and to evaluate the management systems of the Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) associated with these stocks. No evaluation has been made of the fishery specific ecosystem criteria in this report.

The principles that were assessed were:

Principle 1 (P1): A fishery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-fishing or depletion of the exploited populations and, for those populations that are depleted, the fishery must be conducted in a manner that demonstrably leads to their recovery, and
Principle 3 (P3): The fishery is subject to an effective management system that respects local, national, and international laws and standards, and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the resource to be responsible and sustainable.

Each of these Principles is evaluated in relation to Performance Indicators (PIs) within each Principle based on public information available by March 2025. The update includes changes in version 3.1 of the standard (MSC Fisheries Standard and Guidance v3.1 –22nd July 2024; http://www.msc.org/).

Related P1 and P3 infographics are available: Summary of Sustainable Tuna Stocks (MSC Principle 1) (2025) and RFMO Performance (MSC Principle 3) (2025).

Read a press release about the report.

RFMO Best Practice Performance

Written by Sharon Tomasic on May 21, 2025.

This table, updated in May 2025, shows which Regional Fishery Management Organization(s) (RFMOs) are leaders — that is, following best practices in fishery management — in several categories: IUU Vessel List, Authorized Vessel Record, Compliance Assessment Process, EM and 100% Observer Coverage, Supply & Tender Vessels, VMS, Transshipment, and FAD Management.

See our related RFMO Best Practices Snapshots series.

Number of Tuna Transshipments by Year (2014-2023)

Written by svanouse on May 7, 2025.

The four tropical-tuna RFMOs — the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) — prohibit purse seiners, and other vessels under certain conditions, from transshipping at sea. But at-sea transshipment overall has increased in recent years.

This infographic, which shows trends in the RFMOs’ reported transshipments, appears in our Web feature, “At-Sea Transshipments in Tuna Fisheries: Why Oversight Is Essential for Sustainability.” The infographic was updated in May 2025.

Tuna RFMO Requirements for Observer Coverage

Written by svanouse on May 7, 2025.

In this infographic, updated in May 2025, ISSF benchmarks tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) requirements for observer coverage — including electronic monitoring (EM) — against best practices.

The infographic tracks priority areas for reform, indicating whether an RFMO has the priority reform in place, has a partial reform in place, or does not have a reform in place.

Tuna RFMO Requirements for Compliance Processes

Written by svanouse on May 7, 2025.

In this infographic, updated in May 2025, ISSF benchmarks tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) requirements for compliance processes against best practices.

The infographic tracks priority areas for reform, indicating whether an RFMO has the priority reform in place, has a partial reform in place, or does not have a reform in place.

Tuna RFMO Measures Regulating Transshipment

Written by Sharon Tomasic on May 7, 2025.

ISSF has benchmarked the transshipment measures established by the four tropical-tuna RFMOs — the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) — to 10 best-practice recommendations.

Our infographic, updated in May 2025, rates and compares the RFMOs’ performances on those best practices. It also appears in our Web feature, “At-Sea Transshipment in Tuna Fisheries: Why Oversight Is Essential for Sustainability.”