IATTC

SUMMARY INFORMATION

Establishment

1949 Convention for the establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
Signed in Washington on 31 May 1949
Entered into force on 3 March 1950
Protocol of Amendment adopted on 11 June 1999, not yet in force
Convention for the Strengthening of IATTC adopted on 23 July 2003, not yet in force

Membership
As of 31 Jan 2005

Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Spain, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela

Geographical scope

The area of competence of the Commission is defined as the "Eastern Pacific Ocean." There is no precise definition in terms of longitudes and latitudes.
[Map]

Material scope

The species covered by the IATTC are: yellowfin and skipjack tuna; fish used as bait for tuna and other fish taken by tuna vessels.

Main objectives

The main objectives of the Commission are to maintain the populations of tuna and other kind of fish taken by tuna vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and to cooperate in the gathering and interpretation of factual information to facilitate maintaining the populations of these fish at a level which permits maximum sustainable catches year after year.

DESCRIPTION

The IATTC was established in 1950 under the 1949 Convention for the establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. Formerly, the Commission was involved in managing the yellowfin tuna fisheries, but the yellowfin tuna management system was discontinued in 1979. Following this, IATTC did not perform any significant management functions, although it has played an important role in conducting research on tunas in the Eastern Pacific. In recent years, however, IATTC has been undergoing something of a revival. It has played an important role in the operation of the International Dolphin Conservation Programme and since 1998, quotas have been set for bigeye tuna. It has also set up several working groups to deal with specific issues.

In 2003, a new Convention - the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (commonly known as the "Antigua Convention") - was adopted by the current parties to IATTC. The Convention represents a substantial revision of the constitution of the Commission, and reflects extensively modern developments in fisheries management including the UN Fish Stocks Agreement. The Convention is open to: (a) the Parties to the 1949 Convention; (b) States not Party to the 1949 Convention with a coastline bordering the Convention Area; and (c) other States and regional economic integration organizations whose vessels fish for fish stocks covered by this Convention or that are invited to accede. It is open for signature until 31 December 2004 and shall enter into force 15 months after the deposit of the seventh instrument of ratification or accession of the Parties to the 1949 Convention.

Membership

Membership of IATTC is currently only open to States, subject to the approval of existing parties. A Protocol to the Convention was adopted in 1999, to allow regional economic integration organizations, such as the European Community, to become members but so far progress towards the entry into force of the Protocol, which requires the approval of all States parties, has been slow. The European Community has vessels active in the area and has expressed its desire to join.

Structure

IATTC consists of a Commission, composed of representatives from each party, and a Director of Investigations. The Commission is the main decision-making body in the organization, although most of research and management activity of IATTC is done through the Director of Investigations, who is responsible for drafting programs of investigations, budget formulation, accounting and administrative support, directing technical staff, coordinating Commission work with other organizations and preparing administrative, scientific, and other reports of the Commission.

A number of working groups have also been established. There is a permanent working group on compliance, whose role is, inter alia, to review and monitor compliance with conservation and management measures adopted by IATTC; to recommend means of promoting compatibility among the national fisheries management measures of members; and to recommend to the IATTC appropriate measures for addressing matters related to compliance with fisheries management measures. There are also four other working groups, dealing with various specific fishery management issues: (1) bycatch; (2) control of the fishery on floating objects/FADs; (3) fleet capacity; and (4) potential revisions to the Convention establishing the Commission.

Functions

The principal duties of the Commission are (1) to study the biology of the tropical tunas, tuna baitfish, and other kinds of fish taken by tuna vessels in the EPO and the effects of fishing and natural factors upon them and (2) to recommend appropriate conservation measures, when necessary, so that these stocks of fish can be maintained at levels which will afford the maximum sustained catches. Since extension of jurisdiction in the region, IATTC has only played a minor role in tuna management, although it has continued an extensive research programme.

In recent years, much of the Commission's work has been taken up overseeing the International Dolphin Conservation Program (IDCP) and under the 1998 IDCP Agreement, it performs several secretariat and other organizational functions. In 1998, it also set a quota for a tuna stock, for the first time in almost 20 years, following concerns that increasing purse seine effort on floating objects and fish aggregating devices (FADs) was resulting in unsustainable harvests of small bigeye tuna.