27th Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

<p>The 27th session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was held from 8th to 12th May 2023 at the intercontinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava, Mauritius. The meeting had a few positive outcomes with the commission adopting 9 conservation and management measures. However, despite the positive outcomes, the key issues on rebuilding of the yellow fin tuna stocks and management of the drifting fishing aggregating devices FADS was not adopted. A number of proposals were submitted to the commission but they were objected due to lack of scientific evidence and data to support implementation of this proposal especially the implementation of drifting FAD closure in the Indian Ocean.</p>

<p>Objection of this conservation and management measures continues to delay implementation and thus the sustainability of the fish stocks continues to be affected. The yellow fin is still being overfished affecting the recovery to the already overfished stocks. The drifting Fishing and aggregating devices FADs are also contributing to the fish mortality of the juvenile fish stocks.</p>

<p>SWIOTUNA submitted a position statement calling on the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to recognize that the stocks of tunas in the Indian Ocean has been severely depleted and shall continue depleting due to the lack of commitment from the Contracting parties CPCs to apply corrective Conservation and Management Measures. There is need to review and stop catching of the juveniles resulting in the cutting of the reproduction chain of the tuna.</p>

<p>SWIOTUNA also decided as a way forward to develop a working group that shall focus on pushing for the agenda proposal submitted by Seychelles on establishing a working party on the socioeconomic aspect of the fisheries in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission area of competence. SWIOTUNA will push to ensure that the rights of fishers are a priority to the commission when decisions are being made.</p>