Members were unable to agree on measures for the management of tropical tuna and the conservation of bluefin tuna at the Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in California.
Scientific experts had recommended that the fishing closure for bigeye and yellowfin tuna should be extended to a total of 82 days. This was in order to ensure sustainable fisheries in the region while accommodating for the recent increase in fleet capacity.
With the EU committed to adopting measures in line with the scientific advice, discussions are expected to resume at a meeting in October.
No progress was made on the conservation of bluefin tuna and decisions were deferred to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
However, good progress was made on shark conservation and on Fishing Aggregating Devices (FADs) management.
The conservation measures adopted for silky sharks are not as strong as the EU suggested but still hope to loosen some of the pressure on the vulnerable species.
New measures were also adopted for stock assessment and data collection on both silky and hammerhead sharks, with safe release procedures for all non-retained sharks and a general ban on shark lines.
The EU proposal on Fishing Aggregating Devices (FADs) was adopted and it will aim to allow for progress on collection of data, research and management of FADs.
