IATTC annual meeting tees up harvest strategy milestones in 2026

9 de septiembre de 2025

AuthorShana Miller
Project Director, International Fisheries Conservation

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) convened for its annual meeting in Panama City last week. At the start of the year, the plan was to adopt harvest strategies for both bigeye and Pacific bluefin tuna at the Commission meeting, which would have revolutionized tuna management in the eastern Pacific. Unfortunately, the bigeye tuna management strategy evaluation (MSE) work wasn’t complete, and the Pacific-wide bluefin regulatory body was unable to reach consensus on selection of a harvest strategy when it met in July, precluding IATTC from adoption for both stocks in Panama. However, important groundwork was laid at the meeting to advance harvest strategies for several of its valuable stocks in the coming year.

A new measure was adopted for tropical tunas, which commits to finalizing the bigeye MSE in 2026 to enable harvest strategy adoption next year. To facilitate the process, the new Working Group on MSE will meet three to four times between now and then to discuss management objectives and provide feedback and direction on the preliminary performance results of the candidate harvest strategies being considered.

The MSE for Pacific bluefin is complete, and governments are selecting among a handful of candidate harvest strategies projected to meet objectives. To advance the discussions toward consensus, IATTC members agreed to hold an intersessional meeting of the joint working group with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in early 2026, which is a very important step toward adoption.

South Pacific albacore is currently unmanaged in the eastern Pacific, but that could soon change as terms of reference were agreed upon for a new joint working group with WCPFC on management of the stock. WCPFC is slated to adopt a harvest strategy for South Pacific albacore later this year, and this new working group strives to develop complementary management for the eastern part of its range.

IATTC members also agreed to establish a working group on dorado, also known as mahi-mahi. This commercially and recreationally targeted species is highly valued, yet to date lacks international management in the Pacific and beyond. IATTC scientists completed an MSE for the stock in 2019, but it was never used for management. This new working group will facilitate new assessment efforts and reopen the door for future development of a harvest strategy for the stock.

HarvestStrategies.org also participated in a side event hosted by the FAO Common Oceans Program, where we highlighted the educational materials we’ve developed on harvest strategies and MSE, including exciting news about our soon-to-be-released eLearning course. It’s our hope that these communication tools will provide valuable support as IATTC works to bring multiple harvest strategies across the finish line next year.  

IATTC is currently the only tuna management body without a harvest strategy in place. While IATTC adopted a harvest strategy for North Pacific albacore in 2023, the output of the rule is “fishing intensity,” which cannot be implemented until converted into total allowable catch and/or effort. While that conversion was slated for agreement last year, talks have continuously stalled, and members have agreed to finish the job in 2026.

With harvest strategy adoption slated for both bigeye and Pacific bluefin, as well as agreement on how to implement the North Pacific albacore harvest strategy, 2026 is shaping up to be a milestone year for harvest strategies at IATTC!