Meeting in which IATTC, SRP amd fishing industry representatives participated. (Photo: SFP)

Int'l entity expands control over migratory species

ECUADOR
Friday, February 05, 2010, 03:50 (GMT + 9)

The Member States of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) will have to observe new international rules for the control of several highly migratory species as of September 2010. Besides tuna, this international entity will also regulate the capture of billfish, shark, mahi mahi and swordfish.

As such, the Subsecretary of Fisheries Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP), Guillermo Moran Velasquez, has urged the fishing administration, fishers and the industry to be fully informed of the new norms.

The reason is that an updated Antigua Convention (Antigua-Guatamala 1949) will begin to take effect, as will new responsibilities for coastal member-nations of the IATTC with respect to the capture, conservation and management of highly migratory species.

“The Antigua Convention, which is 60 years old and is the equivalent of the IATTC constitution, was drafted when the Convention of the Sea did not exist and in times when there was little fishing on the high seas,” explained Guillermo Compean Jimenez, director of the Commission.

“Now, what we have done is make it more transparent, more efficient and update it before the new instruments of international fishing law, where the management of incidental catch, a precautionary approach, and ecosistemic management is included,” added the director of the IATTC after meeting with the head of the MAGAP, Ramon Espinel Martinez, and with representatives of the fishing industry, shipowners and fishing union leaders.

With respect to the fishing sector targeting tuna fishing, Compean Jimenez emphasised that together with the national government they will develop beneficial actions to comply with the measures of that specie’s ordinance.

“Ecuador is one of most compliant, but the best as far as respect in obeying bans,” the authority continued saying.

 Ecuador adhered for the first time to the Antigua Convention of 14 April 2004. So far, 12 of the 16 Member States of the IATTC already ratified it.

Statistics furnished by this international entity indicate that the Ecuadorian tuna fleet captured 159,464 tonnes of tuna in the Eastern Pacific between 1 January and 29 November 2009.

Mexican vessels fished 123,760 tonnes; Panamanian boats, 66,677 tonnes; and Venezuelan, 51,246 tonnes of tuna.

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

Print