Page 21 - Agric Info Mag 2018 - 01

The meeting also saw consensus
achieved on a four (4) year man-
agement plan for Atlantic Sword-
fish stocks up to 2021, with the
total allowable catch for the years
2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 being

13,200 tonnes. St. Vincent and the
Grenadines was allocated a quota
of seventy-five (75) tonnes.
Shortfin mako shark was another
species under scrutiny and a
mechanism for the review of the
compliance of existing shark
measures was adapted. A full re-
view however has been deferred to an intercessional meeting in 2018 of the compliance committee, allow-
ing some time for proper analysis of the situation. St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be required to for-
mulate and implement a plan for the improvement of shark data collection in 2018 before the next meeting
of the Commission.

An agreement was reached on
supplemental tropical tuna
measures, with a ban put on
wasteful discards from the
purse seine fishery. This
means that all members of
ICCAT whose purse seiners
are authorized to fish for big
eye and/or yellow fin and/or
skipjack tuna in the Conven-
tion Area must require these
vessels to retain on board,

then land or transship to port
all big eye, skipjack and yel-
low fin tunas caught, except
when they have been deemed
unfit for human consumption. Management measures were also instituted for Mediterranean albacore,
whereby ICCAT members were asked to limit the number of vessels authorized to fish for the species, to
the numbers agreed to in 2017. This would prevent an increase of the fishing effort, and of the catch levels
until the scientific committee can provide more accurate advice in future years. Fishing for Mediterranean
th
st
albacore has also been limited from the 1 October to 30 November, annually. The Commission‘s deci-
sion to implement harvest control rules as part of its management plan for North Atlantic Albacore has
also drawn global praise.