E - Iccat

PANEL APPENDICES
Further Considering that the SCRS recommends that, starting in 2003, the level of total catch in the Atlantic be
maintained at the 2001 catch level, in order to restore the biomass of bigeye tuna to a level which would allow
MSY to be attained;
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) recommends:
1. Each Contracting Party and Cooperating non-Contracting Party, Entity or Fishing Entity shall, in 2004, limit
their catch of Atlantic bigeye tuna to the average catch of Atlantic bigeye tuna taken by all their vessels in
1991 and 1992.
2. Notwithstanding the paragraph above,
a) China shall limit, in 2004, its catch of bigeye tuna to 5,000 t, while the overall number of its vessels
registered with the Commission be frozen at 60 for 2004 and thereafter, unless the Commission decides
otherwise.
b) The Commission shall request Chinese Taipei to limit, in 2004, its catch of Atlantic bigeye tuna to 18,500t
and the number of its fishing vessels fishing for Atlantic bigeye tuna to 125.
c) The Commission shall request the Philippines to limit, in 2004 and thereafter, the number of its fishing
vessels fishing for Atlantic bigeye tuna to five (5).
3. The provision of paragraph 1 will not apply to Contracting Parties, Cooperating non-Contracting Parties,
Entities or Fishing Entities whose reported 1999 catch, as provided to the SCRS in 2000, was less than 2,100 t.
4. Underages/overages of the 2004 catch limit for bigeye tuna may be added to/must be subtracted from the 2005
and/or 2006 catch limits for bigeye tuna.
Explanatory Memorandum for Proposed Recommendation on Bigeye Tuna Conservation Measures
In view of the uncontrollable rapid increase of large scale FOC/IUU longline fishing vessels in the late 1990s,
and in their determination of eliminating the unregulated fishing activities of these longline fishing vessels so as
to achieve the goal of sustainability of tuna resources for the utilization of future generations, in February 1999,
Japan and Chinese Taipei signed an Action Plan, whereby Japan was to scrap those second hand longliners it
exported and Chinese Taipei was to encourage those longliners recently built in its shipyards to acquire
registration, so that they would be properly managed and controlled. In 1999, ICCAT adopted a resolution,
praising Japan’s scrapping program and Chinese Taipei’s re-registration program to reduce FOC vessels and
asking them to continue strengthening their joint program (see ICCAT Report 2000-2001, Appendix 9 to
ANNEX 14, pp. 372).
The Commission may also note the joint program to combat and eliminate IUU fishing activities is a prominent
one. Japan has scrapped 42 ex-Japanese IUU/FOC large-scale tuna longliners and Chinese Taipei has reregistered
45 IUU/FOC tuna longliners newly built in our shipyards. In addition, under the joint efforts between
Japan and Chinese Taipei, in cooperation with Vanuatu and Seychelles, a special arrangement has been made to
legitimize 69 IUU/FOC large-scale tuna longliners. Practically speaking, all the IUU/FOC vessels built within
the recent five years have been almost eliminated. Among the ex-IUU vessels, 26 vessels were operating in the
Atlantic Ocean, including 13 scrapped and 13 re-registered. Scrapping of the 13 vessels would reduce a catch of
some 3,250 t of tuna (estimated catch of 250 t per vessel, as suggested by Japan, see ICCAT Report 2002-2003
(I), Appendix 1 to ANNEX 12, pp. 292, Report by Japan on the Current Situation of IUU LSTLVs) and reregistering
the 13 vessels would enable to bring these vessels under proper control and their catches would be
regulated and reported by our government. From the above description, the Commission should be glad to hear
that we have nearly achieved such a goal. Whereas the implementation of this joint program has caused an
increase in the size of our fleet. We hope the Commission will consider an increase the catch limit of tuna to
accommodate such an adjustment, since the present catch limit to be shared among the legitimate licensed
vessels is already too low for the fleet to be viable.
Of the 13 re-registered vessels operating in the Atlantic, 11 are targeting bigeye tuna. They will require an extra
catch limit of 2,750 t, basing on a catch of 250 t per vessel. Keeping in mind the common concept not to benefit
the IUU vessels, if 250 t are allocated to the re-registered vessel, it might read as they are in fact receiving a
preferential treatment than the legitimate licensed vessels that are getting 183 t each. Therefore, we are applying
the same regulatory measure of catch limit to the re-registered vessels of 183 t per vessel. In other words, these
11 vessels will require an additional catch limit of 2,013 t (i.e. 183 t x 11). After re-registration, these 11 vessels
will in fact be utilizing 740 t less than if they remain uncontrolled.
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