E - Iccat

PANEL APPENDICES
efforts made by South Africa in forging such a framework, Chinese Taipei would like to present a different way
of thinking to create a more diversified and balanced environment for deliberation of this important matter. As
the below will demonstrate, the logic for this policy statement will, to some extent, follow the respectable work
of South Africa. The main guiding principles for developing the ICCAT sharing formula for South Atlantic
albacore will be summarized first. Then a basic idea for calculation of the quota to be assigned to each of the
active participants will be submitted.
2. Main guiding principles for developing the ICCAT sharing formula for South Atlantic albacore
It is believed that the following principles constitute the cornerstones for building the ICCAT sharing formula
for South Atlantic albacore.
Principle of Legitimacy: The process of quota allocation in ICCAT should not be done in a vacuum. Since
November 2001 the Commission has been able to avail itself of the Criteria for the Allocation of Fishing
Possibilities. It is believed that the legitimacy of any ICCAT sharing formula is based on the consistency of such
Criteria. To be more specific, for each part of any legitimate sharing formula, there must be some justification
based on at least one identifiable item from such Criteria. In this connection, it is hard to agree with the proposal
of South Africa that “as a starting point, …distant water fleets should not be allocated more than 50% of the
South Atlantic albacore”. Apart from lacking any scientific and biological grounds, the disputable nature of such
starting point results from the absence of any justification in South Africa’s paper. It is also stated by South
Africa that “allocation of quota shares between distant water fleets, within the overall allocation to such fleets,
should be proportional to their recent past performance over this period”. It is difficult to accept such a position
for two reasons. First, the “recent past performance” is not equal to the “historical catches”. It is the latter, not
the former term that has a place in the Criteria. Second, even if the “recent past performance” is the rightful
interpretation of the “historical catches”, the application of such criteria, being of a general nature under the
Criteria, is never limited to distant water fleets.
Principle of Transparency: South Africa does not believe it is feasible, or desirable, to attempt to develop a
mathematical sharing formula for South Atlantic albacore, incorporating specific measures and weightings of the
ICCAT Criteria for the Allocation of Fishing Possibilities. Chinese Taipei believes otherwise. The very reason
for ICCAT to take such pain and effort to develop these Criteria was to instill the merits of transparency into the
quota allocation process. The development of a workable sharing formula is yet to be completed. It is precisely
the weighting and the objective way of calculation to implement the rather abstract and vague Criteria that awaits
further development. Undoubtedly, such development will never be an easy matter. But such move is necessary,
if there is any meaning for having reached the Criteria in the first place.
Principle of Minimizing Economic Dislocation of the Participants: With the development concerns of the coastal
countries in mind, the quota allocation process is in fact a re-distribution and adjustment of the present shares of
fishery resources pertaining to each of the participants as reflected in the original quota duly assigned thereto, as
their entitlements to harvest. Hence, from a practical point of view, the key to success of such an exercise is to
address the economic needs of the participants and to minimize their economic dislocation, as part of their
current catch level may be sacrificed or transferred away for ICCAT managerial goals. It should be noted that the
significance of minimizing economic dislocation lies in the necessity for a smooth, predictable, bearable and
manageable transformation in all fishing-related industries of the participants whose current catch level is subject
to such sacrifice. Of course, the legitimacy of such principle is based on IV-21 of the above ICCAT Criteria.
Principle of Providing Opportunity for Development: There are items in this ICCAT Criterion that place
emphasis on addressing the concerns of the developing coastal countries. If we take the view of South Africa in
the preceding paragraph by rejecting the ideas of attaching weighting and adopting mathematical calculation,
these individual criterion for the benefit of developing coastal countries will be unable to receive the value they
deserve respectively.
3. Basic idea for calculation of the quota to be assigned to each of the active participants
Chinese Taipei believes that, after deducting the part of TAC allocated to non-active participants for by-catch, a
legitimate ICCAT sharing formula for South Atlantic albacore should be based on the idea of combining two
distinctive parts allocated to each of the active participants, namely, the share for minimizing economic
dislocation of the participants (the MED Share), and the share to be transferred or re-arranged under the ICCAT
quota management scheme (the TQM Share). It is fundamental that such draft formula be consistent with the
ICCAT Criteria for the Allocation of Fishing Possibilities. Therefore, such draft formula should be based on as
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