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- Objectives
- To develop a draft list of shark species known to be impacted by tuna fisheries in the EPO to be considered under the purview of the IATTC.
- Background
- At its 101st meeting, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission adopted Resolution C-23-07 “Conservation measures for the protection and sustainable management of sharks” with the aim to consolidate existing measures that pertain to sharks in IATTC Resolutions C-05-03, C-16-04, C-16-05, and to strengthen shark conservation and management measures in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In addition, the resolution sets forth various recommendations and mandates regarding research and data collection pertaining to sharks in order for the IATTC to comply with the measures of Resolution C-23-07, other relevant IATTC resolutions, and relevant items under the Antigua Convention. To define the scope of this research and data collection, Article 13 of the resolution requires “…the IATTC scientific staff, in consultation with the IATTC SAC and EBWG, shall develop a draft list of shark species under the purview of the Commission in the Convention Area for its consideration”.
IATTC Project L.2.b used the EASI-Fish (Ecological Assessment for the Sustainable Impacts of Fisheries) approach to identify the most vulnerable elasmobranch species caught as bycatch in EPO tuna fisheries. In this project, a complete list of species that have been recorded to interact with EPO tuna fisheries was developed, but questions remained as to what extent tuna fisheries pose a bona fide threat to the sustainability of these species, and which species are under the purview of the IATTC given their occupancy of habitats that exist beyond the typical fishing grounds of the tuna fishing fleets. - Relevance for management
- Having a definitive list of species for which the IATTC is responsible for ensuring the long-term sustainability of their populations is the critical first step for determining the level of resource investment towards the management of a species. Given that IATTC fisheries interact with over 100 species of animals caught incidentally during fishing operations, much consideration is required as to the level of resources required to monitor, assess and manage impacted species, or how these species may be handled by other organizations should the IATTC not have sole responsibility.
- Duration
- 12 months
- Workplan and status
- Oct-Dec 23: extract data from Project L.2.b and IATTC databases to develop a list of shark species known to be impacted by EPO fisheries
- Jan-Apr 24: Develop a draft list of shark species under the purview of the IATTC by considering their geographic distributions, extent of interaction with IATTC fisheries, and results of the quantitative vulnerability assessment in Project L.2.b, as well as IATTC’s political instruments and framework.
- May 24: present draft list of species at SAC-15 and EBWG-02.
- External collaborators
- CPCs
- Deliverables
- Document SAC-15-09 and oral presentation at SAC-15
- Updated date: 01 May 2024
- Progress summary for the reporting period
- Oct-Dec 23: Data extracted from Project L.2.b and IATTC databases to develop a list of shark species known to be impacted by EPO fisheries Jan-Apr 24: Draft list of shark species under the purview of the IATTC developed by considering their geographic distributions, extent of interaction with IATTC fisheries, and results of the quantitative vulnerability assessment in Project L.2.b, as well as IATTC’s political instruments and framework.
- SAC-15-09