The action by IATTC at its emergency Commission meeting held on December 22 — a meeting and decision that ISSF and its stakeholders called for earlier this month — keeps crucial “status quo” fishing effort and catch limit provisions and active FAD limits in place for 2021. This decision ensures that the…
[Featured Blog]
Tuna Fisheries Management in Turbulent 2020 – The Good and the Bad
Holly Koehler, Vice President, Policy & Outreach
December 17, 2020
Dec. 22, 2020: See an update about IATTC’s Dec. 22 emergency meeting. This year has tested all of us, including decision-makers at the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) that manage commercial tuna stocks. All tuna RFMOs were forced to hold their annual meetings virtually or…
Last month, ISSF and its partners appealed to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to, at a minimum, act to ensure its current measures on tuna conservation and management do not lapse and stay in place for 2021. ISSF outlined its science-based recommendations to IATTC…
In early November, nearly 200 participants took to their computers for a week-long virtual discussion about Indian Ocean fishery management needs and how to address the growing chorus of concern around effective tuna conservation in the region. The yellowfin tuna stock, the health of which…
With the global pandemic impacting the work of human fisheries observers, electronic monitoring (EM) in global tuna fisheries is in the spotlight more than ever. Here are three ways fisheries managers can act to fully embrace EM today, while enabling a long and successful future…
Working Together to Meet the Challenges of Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a waking nightmare, unravelling normal life as we have known it — a unifying traumatic event that has been compared to the world wars of the last century, although of course there is no precedent in our lifetimes for the…
The world’s largest ray is also one of its most vulnerable. Manta rays, and their close cousins the devil rays, are incredible animals. They have large brains and complex social behaviors. They are also gentle giants that glide through tropical waters and attract SCUBA divers…
Many Points on the Horizon Are Looking Much Brighter, But Regulators, Industry Remain Adrift in Challenging Seas.
One of the biggest fish in Silicon Valley, Elon Musk, stirs up turbulence with just about everything he says. But, as I reviewed 2019’s record of progress in tuna sustainability, one of his comments came back to me, calm and clear. “I’m learning patience,” he…
One species at a time, ISSF researchers confirm the value of an innovation that improves echo-sounding technology
Your lunchtime tuna melt or sashimi platter may seem tame, but the main ingredient probably was swimming wild in the tropics not too long ago. Although that wild existence makes your tuna tasty and firm, it limits the ability of fishers to distinguish between abundant…
Harvest Strategies, Well Managed At-Sea Transshipment Top ISSF’s List of “Asks” for this Year’s WCPFC Meeting
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is responsible for the effective long-term conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). With about 52 percent of the global production of tuna coming from the WCPO —…