The weeklong meeting of the IOTC Special Session held from 08-12 March concluded without a decision on the rebuilding of the yellowfin tuna.
Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna has been overfished since 2015 and IOTC adopted an interim rebuilding plan in 2016 through a gear-based catch reduction. Despite genuine attempts by some members, such as the Maldives, rebuilding has been fraught with difficulties and setbacks.
To make matters complicated, the Scientific Committee has not been able to provide credible and robust scientific advice due to limitations on data and the stocks assessment models being used. The Kobe Strategy Matrix (K2SM), the table which gives estimates of the risk of violating targets and limits under future catch scenarios were considered unreliable under 2018 assessment results. Against this backdrop the SC in 2020 recommended catch should be reduced to at least catch at current maxim sustainable (MSY) levels of 403.000 MT, reminding the Commission that fishing mortality in 2017 was 20% below the fishing mortality target.
The Maldives proposed an overall reduction of 15% relative to 2014 catch levels following the most recent reliable advice of 2016. This required almost more than doubling the proportion of reduction required in each gear category to attain the proposed 15% reduction. The proposal also expanded the application of the reduction measure to the entire segment of the fleets regardless of the size of the vessel where they operated. The application, however, exempted artisanal fisheries which may target catch yellowfin for food.
While the EU also submitted a proposal, it was less ambitious; they proposed to maintain the status quo (at the level of 2014, ~ 400,00 MT). Being heavily biased towards the purse seine fleet, this proposal would have allowed EU flagged vessels to catch 6,000 MT more than the 2019 catch levels.
Failing to proceed with either the EU’s or the Maldives’, the two proposals were merged in an attempt to agree to a text acceptable to the members. However, following strong objections from a number of member states on various grounds, the merged proposal was not adopted and was deferred to the Annual Session of the IOTC, which is currently scheduled to be held in June 2021. A work plan was adopted which requires members to report the artisanal catch.
The 4th Special Session was a lost opportunity to adopt a comprehensive rebuilding plan to save yellowfin tuna from overexploitation. Had the proposal been adopted at SS4, it would be implemented in January 2022. It is extremely vital that a credible plan is adopted at the Commission for implementation by then. This would allow stocks to rebuild for the benefit of the fishermen of the Maldives and other coastal states in the Indian Ocean, as well as to give the NGO community and the market confidence that the IOTC is acting responsibly and in accordance with the scientific advice.