The role of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

IATTC



The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) is the regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and tuna -like species, associated species and their ecosystems, throughout the Eastern Pacific Ocean, from Canada, in the north, to Chile, in the South.

Tunas and similar species are highly mobile. They move freely therefore through maritime areas under different legal regimes, from one area under the national jurisdiction of a coastal State to that of another state and beyond to the high seas.

In order to ensure an appropriate conservation of the stocks and their sustainable management, cooperation is therefore essential between all the interested parties.

The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has included tuna and tuna like species in the category of “highly migratory species” which are governed by the provisions of its Article 64 that establishes this duty to cooperate “with a view to ensuring conservation and promoting the objective of optimum utilization of such species throughout the region, both within and beyond the exclusive economic zone”. This cooperation may be carried out “directly or through appropriate international organizations” and the article makes it mandatory to establish such an organization “in regions for which no appropriate international organization exists”.

In the case of the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), there was already such an organization, the IATTC. Now, there are currently five international organizations for the conservation and management of tuna and tuna-like species: these Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) are: CCSBT, IATTC, ICCAT, IOTC, WCPFC. Of all these, the IATTC is the oldest, since it was established in 1949, a little more than 30 years before the adoption of the UNCLOS. Originally, the IATTC was a very different organization and not a proper RFMO since its only mandate was to do scientific research. As set out in the 1949 Convention signed between the United States and Costa Rica, the sole objective of the Commission was “the gathering and interpretation of factual information”.



The Antigua Convention, which was negotiated to strengthen and replace the 1949 Convention establishing the IATTC, entered into force on 27 August 2010. The Convention is open to the following:the Parties to the 1949 Convention;
  • States not Party to the 1949 Convention with a coastline bordering the Convention Area;
  • States whose vessels fish for fish stocks covered by the Convention, following consultation with the Parties; or
  • States that are otherwise invited to join on the basis of a decision by the Parties.

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