E - Iccat

WG COMPENDIUM - DUBLIN 2003
– The document would be organized by species (or groups of species), with an additional section for control,
monitoring and compliance measures.
– Each species/chapter would have a parallel structure.
– “Article” references should be used to identify text.
– A glossary should be prepared and included with the Compendium.
– Information on objections should be included, probably for each species.
8. Recommended work plan and process for incorporating new decisions into the compiled text
The Chairman emphasized that the job of the Working Group is not to make decisions on the content of ICCAT
texts, rather to present the existing information in a more accessible and transparent fashion. The Working Group
agreed that an alternative structure would not be presented to the Commission until the revised Compendium is
complete, although there might be questions of clarification in the interim. It was noted that the exercise of
preparing the revis ed Compendium would identify gaps or inconsistencies that the Commission might wish to
address. One example that was raised was that formats for submitting data are currently not part of the binding
instruments and perhaps should be in the future.
The following work plan was agreed upon by the Working Group:
– The Secretariat will prepare a preliminary working draft in consultation with key contacts from the
participants in the Working Group (key contacts identified in Appendix 2 to ANNEX 4.5 ).
– This working draft will be in English and will include Recommendations and Resolutions up to and
including those that entered into force in 2002.
– The initial step will be to complete one species as a model template, agree upon that template by
correspondence with key contacts, and then develop the remainder of the Compendium.
– It is anticipated that the complete working draft will be available by May 2004, but that as sections are
completed they will be sent to the key contacts by e-mail.
While much work will be completed by correspondence with key contacts (by e-mail), it was agreed that at some
point the Working Group would have to meet in Madrid to finalize the text before presenting it to the
Commission for approval.
9. Other matters
The Secretariat informed the Working Group that a Compendium of all ICCAT Recommendations and
Resolutions (historical and active) had been prepared and is available on CD and on the web (www.ICCAT.es).
The Secretariat noted that there are several important policy documents that are not Recommendations or
Resolutions (e.g., the ICCAT Criteria for the Allocation of Fishing Possibilities), which were also included in
this complete Compendium. It was noted that the Working Group might also have to deal with such documents
in the revised Compendium structure.
10. Adoption of the report
It was agreed that the report would be made available to Working Group participants once prepared. The Report
was subsequently adopted by the Working Group, and the Commission adopted the Report at its 18 th Regular
Meeting (17-24 November 2003).
11. Adjournment
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