The role of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).

IOTC



The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) role is to promote cooperation among the Contracting Parties (Members) and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties of the IOTC with a view to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilisation of stocks covered by the organisation’s establishing Agreement and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks. The Commission has four key functions and responsibilities which enable it to achieve its objectives. They are drawn from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and are:

  • to keep under review the conditions and trends of the stocks and to gather, analyse and disseminate scientific information, catch and effort statistics and other data relevant to the conservation and management of the stocks and to fisheries based on the stocks;
  • to encourage, recommend, and coordinate research and development activities in respect of the stocks and fisheries covered by the IOTC, and such other activities as the Commission may decide appropriate, such as transfer of technology, training and enhancement, having due regard to the need to ensure the equitable participation of Members of the Commission in the fisheries and the special interests and needs of Members in the region that are developing countries; to view the current capacity building activities of the Commission please visit the Capacity Building page;
  • to adopt – on the basis of scientific evidence – Conservation and Management Measures (CMM) to ensure the conservation of the stocks covered by the Agreement and to promote the objective of their optimum utilisation throughout the Area;
  • to keep under review the economic and social aspects of the fisheries based on the stocks covered by the Agreement bearing in mind, in particular, the interests of developing coastal States.

Upcoming meetings


DEC 01 2025 -  28th Session of the Scientific Committee (SC28), Scientific Committee (SC) in China.


NOV 25 2025 - 21th Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics (WPDCS21); Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics (WPDCS) in China.


OCT 27 2025 - 16th Working Party on Methods (WPM16); Working Party on Methods (WPM) in Seychelles.


OCT 21 2025 - 27th Working Party on Tropical Tunas (WPTT27); Working Party on Tropical Tunas (WPTT) in Seychelles


SEP 15 2025 - 23rd Working Party on Billfish (WPB23); Working Party on Billfish (WPB) in France Sete


SEP 09 2025 - 21st Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB21); Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB) in France, Sete


JUL 21 2025 - 9th Working Party on Temperate Tuna (WPTmT09): Assessment Meeting; Working Party on Temperate Tuna (WPTmT) in Seychelles


JUL 14 2025 - 15th Meeting of the Technical Committee on Allocation Criteria (TCAC); Technical Committee on Allocation Criteria (TCAC) in Zanzibar, Tanzania


JUL 07 2025 - 15th Working Party on Neritic Tunas (WPNT15); Working Party on Neritic Tunas (WPNT) in Seychelles.


JUN 11 2025 - 27th Working Party on Tropical Tunas Data Preparatory Meeting (WPTT27(DP)) Working Party on Tropical Tunas (WPTT); Online/Virtual.


JUN 09 2025 - 7th IOTC Working Group on FADs (WGFAD07); IOTC ad hoc Working Group on FADs (WGFAD); Online/Virtual.


MAY 05 2025 - 5th Working Group on Electronic Monitoring Standards (WGEMS05)
Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics (WPDCS); online/Virtual


APR 28 2025 - 21st Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch Data Preparatory Meeting (WPEB21(DP)); Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB); Online/Virtual


APR 24 2025 - 2nd Working Party on Socio-Economics (WPSE02); Working Party on Socio-Economics (WPSE); Online/virtual.


APR 13 2025 - 29th Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
Commission in La Réunion.


APR 12 2025; 9th Session of the Technical Committee on Management Procedures (TCMP)
Technical Committee on Management Procedures (TCMP) in La Réunion.


APR 11 2025; Adoption of the Compliance Committee Report (Half Day, AM) / Adoption of the SCAF Report (Half Day, PM); in La Réunion.


APR 10 2025; 22nd Session of the Standing Committee on Administration and Finance (SCAF)
Standing Committee on Administration and Finance (SCAF) in La Réunion


APR 07 2025; 22nd Session of the Compliance Committee (CoC22); Compliance Committee (CoC)
in La Réunion.


FEB 27 2025; 9th Working Party on Temperate Tuna (WPTmT09): Data preparatory meeting;
Working Party on Temperate Tuna (WPTmT); Online/Virtual.


FEB 26 2025; 1st Special Session of the Scientific Committee; Scientific Committee (SC)
Virtual/online


FEB 25 2025; 11th Meeting of the Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) Working Group
IOTC Working Group, Online/Virtual (Seychelles time)


FEB 24 2025; Management Strategy Evaluation Task Force of the Working Party on Methods
Working Party on Methods (WPM); Online/Virtual


FEB 12 2025; 8th Meeting of the IOTC Working Party on the Implementation of Conservation and Management Measures (WPICMM08), IOTC Working Party on the Implementation of Conservation and Management Measures (WPICMM); Online/Virtual/Video-conference (if no CPC offers to host it)


FEB 10 2025; 8th Meeting of the Vessel Monitoring System Working Group (VMSWG08)
IOTC Working Group, Online/Virtual (Seychelles time).


FEB 06 2025; 14th Meeting of the Technical Committee on Allocation Criteria (TCAC)
Technical Committee on Allocation Criteria (TCAC); Online/Virtual.




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