The Maldives will host a workshop to advance the understanding of Management Strategy Evaluations (MSE) on 3-4 February 2016.
Its main aim will be to agree an appropriate harvest control rule (HCR) for tuna stocks under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).
The workshop is being led by the Government of the Maldives and the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF), with support and co-sponsorship from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, WWF and the Marine Stewardship Council.
Dr Shiham Adam, IPNLF’s director for science and the Maldives, said: “Several important lessons have been learned from previous workshops, among them the need for capacity building to level the playing field among managers, scientists, fisheries and other stakeholders.”
“Many need to clearly communicate the likely impacts of different catch levels together with the need for dynamic management approaches that can succeed even when faced with the large uncertainties that currently exist in the stock assessments,” he continued.
The workshop will bring together many participants from 19 Indian Ocean coastal states and intends to build on the momentum already generated at previous Coastal States Meetings.
It is hoped that the collective support generated through this collaborative approach will lead to the adoption of harvest strategies for key tuna species at the IOTC meeting.
"We are grateful for the leadership that the Maldives authorities continue to demonstrate with regards to the conservation of Indian Ocean tuna stocks,” added Dr Adams.
He said: “The country’s pole-and-line skipjack tuna fishery – the first Indian Ocean tuna fishery to receive MSC certification – follows a traditional, highly selective and low impact form of fishing and is the only viable source of employment and livelihood for more than 20,000 fishermen and their families in the island communities.”
The two-day meeting will see experts deliver presentations on key concepts with the emphasis on the need to ensure effective management strategies of the shared tuna stocks in the Indian ocean.
Dr Adams concluded: “The Maldives is also playing a key role at the IOTC to develop the region’s sustainable fishing credentials by helping to establish limits and targets for the stocks and harvest control rules.”
“As well as requirements for better information gathering in relation to vessel infringements and protection of endangered, threatened and protected species.”
