Instruments

Quick links

Active documents

La Jolla Agreement
Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (Amended oct 2017)
AIDCP Amendments (Amended oct 2017)
AIDCP Rules of Procedures
AIDCP Rules of confidentiality
Criteria for cooperating non-parties
IATTC-WCPFC Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on the cross-endorsement of WCPFC and IATTC and approved observers when observing on the high seas of the convention areas of both organizations (Signed August 2011)

Dolphin safe

The first objective of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP) is to reduce incidental dolphin mortalities in the purse-seine fishery in the eastern Pacific Ocean to levels approaching zero. This Agreement and its predecessor, the 1992 La Jolla Agreement, have been spectacularly successful in meeting this objective, as shown by the reduction in mortality of dolphins incidental to fishing. (see Table)

During 2022 96% of all sets made on tuna associated with dolphins were accomplished with no mortality or serious injury to the dolphins. Furthermore, the total mortality of dolphins in the fishery has been reduced from about 132,000 in 1986 to 965 in 2022.

The Tuna Tracking System established under the AIDCP tracks the tuna caught in each set from the time it is captured until it is unloaded. Tuna caught in sets in which dolphins are not killed or seriously injured is defined as "dolphin-safe".

Further reading
- Francis, Robert C., Frank T. Awbrey, Clifford A. Goudey, Martin A. Hall, Dennis M. King, Harold Medina, Kenneth S. Norris, Michael K. Orbach, Roger Payne, and Ellen Pikitch.1992. Dolphins and the Tuna Industry. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.: xii, 176 pp.
- Gosliner, Michael L. 1999. The tuna-dolphin controversy. In Twiss, John R., Jr., and Randall R. Reeves (editors), Conservation and Management of Marine Mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington: 120-155.
- Hall, Martín A. 1998. An ecological view of the tuna-dolphin problem: impacts and trade-offs. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish., 8: 1-34.
- Joseph, James. 1994. The tuna-dolphin controversy in the eastern Pacific Ocean: biological, economic, and political impacts. Ocean. Develop. Inter. Law, 25 (1): 1-30.
- Scott, Michael. 1996. The tuna-dolphin controversy. Whalewatcher, 30 (1): 16-30.

Previous procedures & guidelines (for reference)

Joint WG on Fishing by Non-Parties, Terms of reference
COVID 19 Pandemic Exemption Procedure for the Operation of On-Board Observers