A first meeting of the new ITUNNES project has been held, with the initiative aiming to foster the implementation of effective management measures for tropical tunas at regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) like the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) through European institutes and sector collaboration.
This ambitious scientific project, scheduled to last two years, aims to enhance the performance of stock assessment models, as well as complementary ecosystem and climate models, by deepening the understanding of key biological information on tropical tunas (yellowfin, skipjack and bigeye).
To achieve this objective, the consortium is developing an efficient and coordinated sampling scheme in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, aiming to collect around 4,000 samples.
Anne-France Mattlet, director of Europêche Tuna Group, explained: “By providing new information for more robust stock assessments and sharing the new knowledge produced with a broad range of stakeholders, this project will undoubtedly benefit and optimise conservation and management measures based on the best available science within Regional Fisheries Management Organisations.”
Europêche Tuna Group and its members – ANABAC, OPAGAC and ORTHONGEL, the three associations of frozen tuna producers in the EU – are actively involved in the design of the sampling methodology and sharing the data needed to achieve the project results.
