E - Iccat

STACFAD REPORT
tagging program of tropical tunas. He also recalled that this program could be financed by the Working Capital
Fund.
The Delegate from Japan requested information on the budgetary implications of these activities and asked that
they be prioritized.
The Delegate from Morocco supported the research program on small tunas in order to carry out the stock
assessment on small tunas, aimed at improving data and creating a database on these species.
Algeria, Cape Verde, Trinidad & Tobago, and Tunisia supported the research program on small tunas.
The Executive Secretary expressed that there were budget items that could be financed by the ICCAT Budget
and that others could be financed through existing programs.
The Delegate from Japan stated that the Working Capital Fund could be used, but that the amount of the funds
needed would have to be known.
The Executive Secretary explained that the ICCAT Year Research Program for Small Tuna Species (SMTYP)
would be a two-year program and that €56,000 would have to be allocated in both 2013 and 2014, which could
be charged to the Working Capital Fund. He indicated that regarding the rest of the activities he would contact
the SCRS Chair to identify the priorities and try to finance these from the funds of the existing programs.
11. Identification of procedure for granting and implementing the Meeting Participation Fund
The Executive Secretary presented the document on a “Mechanism for Financing the Meeting Participation
Fund” , which shows the contributions received to this Fund (€60,000 from the Working Capital Fund, €10,000
from Morocco, and €27,083.66 from Norway), as well as the costs of the CPCs that had benefited from
participation at meetings. He explained that the document also included an estimate that had been made of
possible requests from all the developing CPCs. He proposed that for 2013 such costs be charged to the Working
Capital Fund and at the 2013 meeting this matter be reviewed for consideration of its inclusion in future regular
budgets.
The Delegate from the European Union proposed that for purposes of knowing the real needs from the fund that
such financing be charged to the Working Capital Fund in 2013 and that the amount destined for this purpose be
reviewed annually.
The Delegate from the United States proposed allocating €150,000 from the Working Capital Fund for 2013 and
that this amount be adjusted every year in order to have a margin that will ensure the participation of all the
CPCs that request assistance.
This proposal was accepted by the rest of the delegations.
12. Other matters
The Chair explained that at the 3rd Meeting of the Working Group on the Future of ICCAT (Madrid, Spain, May
28-31, 2012) there were various requests from the Commission Chair for discussion in STACFAD. The first was
a proposal from Canada to amend Article 9 of the Rules of Procedure on inter-sessional voting (included in
Appendix 7 of the aforementioned Working Group´s report), another was the proposal by Canada on the
objection procedure (Appendix 9 of the Working Group´s Report) (see ANNEX 4.2), and the third dealt with the
concern that various CPCs expressed about the lack of a clear and effective ICCAT communication policy
whereby ICCAT could rapidly and effectively transmit the results of its work. The STACFAD Chair asked
Canada to introduce the first two proposals and the Secretariat the third.
− Amendment of Article 9 of the ICCAT Rules of Procedure on inter-sessional voting.
The Delegate from Canada introduced the proposal to amend the Rules of Procedure concerning inter-sessional
voting to change the method to calculate the quorum during the voting by correspondence, as well as the effect
of the abstentions. The Delegate explained that inter-sessional voting was becoming more common in ICCAT
and that the fact that a CPC did not respond to a vote had an influence on the decision, since not voting was
considered an abstention and therefore had the same effect as a “no” vote. He stated that this proposal intended
223