While traditional international fisheries management is backed by scientific data, quota setting can often get bogged down in the mire of national interests and scientific uncertainty. This can lead to protracted negotiations and opaque rules, making it difficult for the industry to plan operations and for managers to effectively control risk. It is precisely because of these challenges that “management procedure” (MP) – also known as harvest strategies (HS)– have emerged to meet the moment.
“Harvest Strategies (HS) are like a modern fishing vessel; at first glance, they might seem complex and daunting! But once understood and familiarized, they can bring unprecedented efficiency and sustainability. From a scientist’s perspective, the most significant advantage of HS is that it not only copes with ocean uncertainty but also strikes a balance between multiple objectives, offering clear navigational rules. Although the learning curve for HS might be steep, I believe mastering this ‘ship’ will make our fisheries more resilient, steering us toward sustainable development.” — Dr. Shui-Kai Chang (Leading Scientist on HS from Taiwan)
The momentum is undeniable. As recently as 2021, 112 of the world’s major supply chain companies sent an open joint letter to delegations at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), demanding accelerated action to develop comprehensive HS for all tuna stocks. Moreover, in 2024, a Harvest Strategy 101 webinar organized by The Ocean Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts for supply chain partners attracted seafood stakeholders from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Last December at the annual commission meeting of Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), I witnessed the principles of HS move from webinars to the negotiation table, seeing firsthand how HS guides real-world decision-making
Completing the “Core”: How WCPFC22 Steered South Pacific Albacore Toward Sustainability
In December 2025, the 22nd commission meeting of the WCPFC convened in Manila, Philippines. From day one, voices ranging from the Chair and delegates to observer organizations unanimously signaled that the adoption of an MP for South Pacific albacore (SPA) would be the primary mission of the meeting. That is, they were committed to “completing the ‘core.”
“My top priority for this week’s meeting is the adoption of the South Pacific albacore management procedure. Agreement on SPA MP would demonstrate the Commission’s commitment to harvest strategies and the management of an economically important fishery.” — Dr. Josie M Tamate, Chair of WCPFC 22
“South Pacific albacore remains the highest priority for FFA Members at this meeting.” — Poimatagi Okesene, Chair of Forum Fisheries Committee (Forum Fisheries Agency, FFA)
During the opening session, key fishing members, including Korea and China, also showed support for the adoption of the MP for SPA.
“Korea also places strong emphasis on the harvest strategy agenda. WCPFC 22 should deliver a credible and implementable management procedure for South Pacific albacore, together with an effective implementing measure, and agree on an updated and realistic workplan for harvest strategies across key tuna stocks.” — Dr. Jong-jun Song, Acting Director General of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea
High Stakes, Hard Choices: The Push for Sustainability
The longline and troll fleets are the two primary groups of commercial vessels catching SPA in the South Pacific. In 2024, longliners represented 98% of the catch of SPA at 93,791 mt, . While only accounting for 2% of the overall SPA landings, troll fleets accounted for 54% of the 2024 catch in the southern area (south of X°S). By flag, China (29,732 mt) and Taiwan (known as Chinese Taipei in WCPFC; 11,016 mt) had the highest catch estimates of South Pacific albacore in 2024, representing over 50% of the total longline catch, followed by Fiji (8,436 mt), Kiribati (6,530 mt), and French Polynesia (5,066 mt) .
SPA is a lifeline not only for the economies of many Pacific Island countries but also for the fleets of key fishing nations. Take Taiwan as an example. As the member with the second-largest catch in the region, the livelihoods supported by hundreds of its vessels are heavily dependent on this fishery.
Given the high economic stakes, it came as no surprise that the path to a consensus was fraught with tension. Two key proposals regarding the MP and the Implementation Measure dominated the five-day discussion. The debate over the MP proposal focused primarily on selecting the ideal Harvest Control Rule (HCR), while the Implementation Measure faced heated discussion on the allocation of catch splits between exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and the high seas, which remained a primary concern for members including Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and many others.
To facilitate the discussion and help members build consensus over this critical issue, the work extended far beyond standard hours. After long, formal plenary sessions, participants stayed behind to share concerns and debate possible paths forward, often skipping dinner or eating late into the night. When bottlenecks emerged during these extra evening sessions, the negotiations spilled over into the margins, with delegates holding intense one-on-one discussions during lunch hours or coffee breaks.
Underpinning these grueling hours was the harsh reality facing the industry. Beyond the conference rooms, I witnessed the genuine struggles of the stakeholders involved. The Taiwanese industry, for instance, affirmed their support for sustainable fisheries management but highlighted a difficult truth – even the HCR offering the highest yield (catch) would still fall below their current catch levels due to an agreement to increase the population size to a higher target size to facilitate a more cost-efficient fishery. This reduction poses an immediate challenge to the livelihoods of the fishermen, and with future allocation decisions looming, many vessels fear they will be forced to terminate operations entirely.
Yet, recognizing that a stalemate would serve no one, the Commission pushed forward. Despite the limited time and the sheer volume of work at WCPFC 22, members prioritized the SPA MP. While there was considerable “push and pull,” with some members striving for an HCR that maximized catch, the group finally concluded at the selection of HCR 7 on the last day of the meeting. In a statement made on the final day, the representative of Taiwan acknowledged the painful trade-offs, noting that while tens of thousands of their fishermen depend on this fishery and would face further operation challenges regarding the 2026 allocation split, they would support the consensus. In the spirit of cooperation, they accepted HCR 7 to ensure the long-term viability of the stock.
Getting the SPA MP to where it is today was no easy task, as the entire process spanned several years, from the establishment of the MP workplan, multiple workshops, and intersessional groups, to bilateral discussions, and finally adoption at the Commission meeting in 2025. For me, attending my first WCPFC meeting as an observer from Taiwan was an eye-opening experience. I saw firsthand the heavy lifting required to bridge the gap between conservation goals and the economic realities of key stakeholders. The Representative of Samoa summarized this delicate balance perfectly, “The proposed South Pacific albacore Management Procedure and Implementing Measure offers a robust, science-based, and precautionary framework built through extensive consultation, modelling, and compromise, designed to maintain the stock at sustainable levels consistent with the agreed interim target reference point (iTRP) while safeguarding social and economic objectives across the region.”
Sitting in that room, I realized that the core concept of HS is not just about dry policy, but rather, it is really about ensuring stock stability to provide for long-term, sustainable, and stable fisheries for fleets from my country and coastal communities alike.
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Pei-Yun (Lisa) Tsai is a policy specialist with nearly a decade of experience shaping sustainable fisheries advocacy across East Asia. After six years as a Project Lead and campaigner at Greenpeace, where she coordinated multi-stakeholder coalitions and translated technical research into actionable campaigns on issues ranging from fisheries to chemical management, Pei-Yun transitioned to independent consulting. She now focuses on driving policy reform and corporate practice change within the distant water fishery sector, utilizing a holistic perspective to navigate complex political landscapes and foster collaboration between governments, industry associations, and NGOs.
Tunas are some of the most important seafood species in the world. Tuna fisheries support livelihoods across oceans, provide a critical source of nutrition, and play a major role in global seafood supply chains. Sea Pact, a collaboration of North American mid-supply chain seafood companies advancing sustainability, recognizes this significance firsthand. In fact, when Sea Pact members were asked which wild species or commodity was most important to their individual businesses, the majority identified fresh and frozen tuna as number one, making tuna sustainability, responsibility, and traceability essential to Sea Pact’s efforts.
Sea Pact has a long history of supporting fishery improvement efforts across global fisheries through collaborations, supply chain engagement, and projects. As our members continue strengthening their commitments to responsible sourcing, it is clear that long-term sustainability depends on well-informed, resilient management systems and collective engagement. That is why Sea Pact supports advancing harvest strategies for tuna and engaging with the international bodies where tuna management decisions are made.
When it comes to maintaining sustainable fishery stock statuses, harvest strategies are one of the most effective and practical tools available to protect tuna fisheries over the long haul. They provide a science-based framework for how fisheries should respond and adapt in the face of change.
In practice, harvest strategies help deliver:
Despite their importance, the need for broader adoption of harvest strategies in tuna fisheries remains. Currently, 13 out of the 23 commercially important tuna stocks managed through Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) are still not regulated by a harvest strategy. RFMOs are international bodies composed of countries that have the responsibility of managing shared stocks of highly migratory species, like tuna. They set catch limits, adopt conservation measures, and determine whether tools like harvest strategies are implemented.
It is often the case that the market demand and expectations that drive fisheries develop faster than RFMO management changes can be implemented. Yet, RFMO discussions often lack consistent representation from the market end of the supply chain, including the retailers and suppliers that depend on tuna fisheries for long-term sourcing. Sea Pact believes markets have an important role to play in supporting timely, science-based management, and that effective RFMO engagement is built on consistent engagement and long-term trust and relationship building.
Starting in 2026, Sea Pact will be taking part in a new initiative, All Tunas 2028, to seek direct engagement with RFMO delegates with a focus on advancing harvest strategies and supporting stronger long-term management for priority tuna stocks.
Our approach will center on:
This work reflects Sea Pact’s broader commitment to ensuring that seafood markets are actively contributing to solutions that support the long-term sustainability of the fisheries our members depend on. Sea Pact recognizes that this kind of direct RFMO engagement represents a new approach for the organization, and we are actively working to align with other existing efforts such as harveststrategies.org, the Global Tuna Alliance, and the NGO Tuna Forum. We strongly believe that this work will only strengthen our collective goals. Our efforts will officially kick off with Nicole Condon, the Director, Brand & Social Impact for Oddisea SuperFrozen and Sea Pact Board Vice-Chair, speaking at the panel All Tuna 2028: Desserts and Discussion at the Seafood Expo North America next month in Boston. We hope you can join us!
Sea Pact and its members are excited to support this work by bringing market leadership into global fishery governance spaces and advocating for management systems that support responsible sourcing and a stable future for tuna fisheries.
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Nicole Condon is a leader in the seafood sustainability space with over two decades of multi-disciplinary experience at the intersection of industry, science, non-profits, and policy. After a decade in nonprofit management, Nicole transitioned to the private sector as the Director of Brand & Social Impact at Oddisea SuperFrozen where she is working to tackle human rights, environmental, and traceability challenges along the supply change, cementing Oddisea’s leadership at the forefront of responsible sourcing practices.
Sam Grimley serves as Executive Director of Sea Pact, a coalition of North American seafood companies working together to advance seafood sustainability through supply chain engagement and collective action. Sam has more than fifteen years of experience helping seafood buyers and industry partners improve sourcing and drive sustainability initiatives having previously worked for Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
In January, fisheries managers and scientists from North Africa and the Near East, working with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), gathered in Alexandria, Egypt, for a regional capacity-building workshop on management procedures (MPs) and management strategy evaluation (MSE).
The three-day workshop combined expert presentations, interactive activities, and facilitated group discussions to build a shared understanding of MPs (also known as harvest strategies) and MSE as practical tools for science-based decision-making. The workshop strengthened dialogue between managers and scientists and across the region, enabling participants to engage in MP and MSE processes at regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and nationally.
Workshop Goals and Approach
As MPs gain traction at ICCAT and GFCM, effective development and implementation depend on both technical analyses and informed decision-making. This, in turn, requires managers and scientists to share a common understanding of objectives, trade-offs, uncertainty, and how their respective roles fit together throughout the MP and MSE processes.
Thus, the workshop moved beyond theory and focused on practical engagement with MPs and MSE. Plenary sessions established a shared conceptual foundation and fostered regional collaboration, while dedicated breakout sessions allowed managers and scientists to dive into their specific roles. Scientists’ breakout sessions emphasized technical foundations and workflows – providing hands-on experience working on MSE, including specifying operating models, designing candidate management procedures, and running simulations on case study data. Managers’ sessions introduced the full MP and MSE cycle from a decision-maker perspective – paying particular attention to interpreting MSE results, weighing trade-offs, and understanding implementation pathways.
Workshop Impact
For both managers and scientists, a central outcome of the workshop was greater clarity and confidence around MPs and MSE as tools for sustainable fisheries management. Prior to the workshop, some participants noted that MSE concepts felt difficult to navigate, including at RFMO meetings. By working through examples and visualizations and participating in group discussions, participants developed a clearer understanding of how MPs and MSE function in practice when it comes to real fisheries management.
Further, participants noted the workshop’s structure – plenary sessions with all participants as well as tailored breakout sessions for managers and scientists – was unique and highly beneficial. Unlike previous workshops where managers and scientists were separated for the whole time, this workshop format allowed each group to gain insight into the other’s work. This insight helped clarify their distinct yet complementary responsibilities and emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between science and management for effective development and implementation of MPs.
For managers, the workshop strengthened their ability to engage with and interpret technical MSE outputs from scientists, participate in discussions regarding trade-offs and uncertainty, and make informed decisions. They also valued the opportunity to share experiences with peers from across the Mediterranean, recognizing both similar challenges and potential for regional collaboration. Many noted they were leaving the workshop better prepared to contribute to ICCAT and GFCM discussions on MSE and MPs and communicate about MSE and MPs within their national institutions.
For scientists, hands-on exercises and interactive sessions provided practical experience with MSE workflows, visualization tools, and reproducible analyses, strengthening technical capacity to use MSE frameworks and develop MPs. Further, using case study data helped connect technical analysis to real-world scenarios. Scientists also improved their ability to communicate results to managers and stakeholders, as the joint sessions helped them understand managers’ perspectives and priorities.
Looking Ahead
Overall, the Alexandria workshop marked an important step towards increasing regional capacity for MPs and MSE in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and at ICCAT and GFCM. It fostered stronger regional connections, conceptual understanding, and technical skills, laying the groundwork for future collaboration and engagement in RFMO processes. Participants were eager to take their new knowledge and skills back home and apply them to fisheries nationally and regionally, as well as to continue participating in future capacity-building experiences. This ongoing capacity-building will be essential and is the aim of the new FAO eLearning Academy course on MPs and MSE, a free and self-paced educational tool to learn more about the concepts.
Thank you to the FAO Common Oceans Project, The Ocean Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, GFCM, Oceankind, and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation for supporting the workshop.
More than 10 years ago at a meeting of a newly constituted regional fisheries management organization, countries with fisheries interests across the south Pacific Ocean came together to adopt a harvest control rule with a goal of rebuilding jack mackerel, a small pelagic fish that had become seriously depleted.
Fast forward to today, and members of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), after having successfully steered the rebuilding of the jack mackerel stock, have an opportunity to further embrace precautionary and science-based management across their diverse small pelagic, squid, and bottom fisheries.
On the agenda of the annual SPRFMO meeting beginning March 2nd in Panama City will be a recommendation from an independent panel of experts, commissioned by SPRFMO, to review the organization’s performance. Notably, that panel is recommending the adoption of a harvest strategy (also called management procedure, MP) approach for all SPRFMO fisheries.
“A well-defined harvest strategy provides a framework for consistent decision-making and the application of the precautionary approach across different fisheries,” the review panel wrote in its report. “This approach would help ensure that management measures are designed with clear objectives, supported by scientific evidence, and adaptable to changing conditions. This would provide a practical framework for decision-making and goal-setting for each fishery, ensuring that the precautionary approach is constantly applied.”
SPRFMO members should heed that recommendation, thereby aligning the RFMO with others that have made the strategic choice to embrace harvest strategies to provide greater predictability and stability and to ensure the sustainability of their fisheries.
SPRFMO, which includes 17 members, manages important stocks of small pelagic fishes, squid, and bottom fishes across the south Pacific Ocean. SPRFMO is already undertaking work in relation to harvest strategies, but its efforts would receive a boost through a more strategic approach:
For other fisheries, like orange roughy, and toothfish, a workplan could be developed to tailor workable MP approaches, given the varying levels of data, knowledge, and fishing intensity. The MP approach is not one-size fits all, and it can be applied differently depending on the resources available and priorities of the Commission.
In rebuilding jack mackerel, SPRFMO members have demonstrated that they can cooperate and make decisions with lasting benefits. Now is the time to build on the organization’s past to chart out a sustainable future through the wider endorsement of the harvest strategy approach.
(Photo by Richard Ling, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND-2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Last week, scientists, fisheries managers, industry representatives, and policy experts from around the world met at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy for the Global Tuna RFMO Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) Workshop hosted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and FAO’s Common Oceans Program Tuna Project. Over three days of expert presentations and group discussions, the workshop took an in-depth look at the current state of MSE efforts across tuna RFMOs (tRFMOs), including common challenges to implementing MSE-tested management procedures (MPs), also known as harvest strategies, and how to make the MSE process more technically and procedurally effective. By the end of the meeting, participants had drafted and agreed upon a consolidated set of recommendations intended to improve the design of MSE technical frameworks, strengthen communication and trust with managers and stakeholders, and streamline timelines to implementation.
Taking stock: lessons from across tuna RFMOs
The workshop opened with a keynote presentation from the perspective of fisheries managers, highlighting common frustrations among managers with the MSE process and calling for improved communication on the part of scientists, including regarding uncertainties around results and the usage of key terminology. For example, the inconsistent use of multiple terms with the same meaning was a source of frustration to managers, such as harvest strategy versus management procedure, and performance metric versus performance indicator (PI). MP and PI were agreed as the preferred terms.
Representatives from all five t-RFMOS (Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), ICCAT, Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCFPC)) provided regional overviews of the history, successes, and challenges of MSE efforts in their respective regions. While institutional contexts differ, similar challenges emerged across presentations, including limitations in data quality and availability—particularly the reliance on catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) data as key indices of abundance—along with the need for more ongoing and effective dialogue among scientists, managers, and stakeholders, greater investment in capacity building, and the inherently time- and resource-intensive nature of the MSE process.
At the same time, these sessions made clear how far MSE has come – all tRFMOs now have practical, hands-on experience with MSE and MSE-tested MPs. CCSBT has had an MP in place for its single stock, Southern bluefin tuna, since 2011. ICCAT, IOTC, and WCPFC have all adopted multiple MPs to-date, with several more in development at each. IATTC, while not yet having adopted an MSE-tested MP, established an ad hoc MSE working group in 2024 and is actively developing its first MP for bigeye tuna. It was also noted across regions that MSEs can help tRFMOs address existing management concerns such as lack of reliable stock assessments and managing stocks under changing climate conditions.
Spotlighting experience and expertise: where we’ve been and where we need to go
Presentations and discussions on capacity building, communication, stakeholder engagement, and industry perspectives all alluded to a common theme: the efficiency and success of MSE processes is determined largely at the science–management interface. Participants emphasized the importance of engaging managers and stakeholders early and often, including to establish management objectives and risk tolerances, clearly communicate key results and their implications, and focus attention on pressing decisions that need to be made. These discussions were seen as best supported through science–management dialogue (SMD) groups, which facilitate engagement, build trust, and help retain institutional memory to combat frequent staff turnover.
Many presentations showcased the timelines to adoption for existing MPs at respective RFMOs, illuminating that delays in MSE processes are often procedural rather than technical. Shifting expectations and the absence of clear, structured timelines can result in steps being revisited multiple times. Throughout discussions, participants agreed that with stronger communication and clearly defined roles, deadlines, and decision points, full MSE processes can be streamlined considerably and should take only 2-3 years to complete.
Finally, a series of methods-focused presentations addressed a range of technical considerations when building MSE frameworks, including developing multi-fishery MPs, characterizing uncertainties, treatment of observation, and considering robustness to climate change.
Guiding the way forward: collective recommendations
On the last day of the workshop, participants distilled the previous days’ discussions into a consolidated set of recommendations for improving MSE design, implementation, and communication at tRFMOs. High-level takeaways from the group’s recommendations include:
Looking ahead
This workshop brought together leading experts in MSE at tuna RFMOs in a landmark exchange of experience and ideas. It provided a rare and valuable opportunity to reflect collectively on the evolution of MSE within tRFMOs, shared challenges encountered along the way, and practical ways to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of MSE processes.
The recommendations developed by participants are intended to be presented for consideration at all tRFMOs; their ultimate impact will depend on institutional willingness to consider and implement them. If put into practice, the benefits could be substantial: greater understanding of—and trust in—the MSE process among managers and stakeholders, more robust management procedures, and more predictable, sustainable outcomes for RFMO-managed stocks worldwide.
I write this from Seville, Spain where the gavel has just dropped on the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). After a long 8 days of negotiations, we’ve ended with both high notes and disappointments for management procedure (MP) development and implementation at ICCAT.
First, the high notes:
The Commission adopted an MP for western Atlantic skipjack tuna as the first dedicated management for the stock. The effort was led by Brazil on both the science and management sides, having been initiated by the renowned Brazilian scientist, Dr. Fabio Hazin. Brazil championed the proposal in Seville, with the United States as a co-sponsor, and the final version will set future total allowable catch limits (TACs) for the stock in 3-year blocks. The results of the management strategy evaluation (MSE) were presented in www.HarvestStrategies.org’s Shiny App, Slick, for ICCAT member review and consideration when selecting the final MP. Western skipjack is a unique fishery at ICCAT as more than 90% of the catch is caught by one fleet, the Brazilian baitboat fishery. As a low bycatch handgear fishery, now with a long-term MP in place, the fishery can proudly say they’re a world leader in sustainable management.
Next, an exceptional circumstances protocol (ECP) was adopted for North Atlantic swordfish as an annex to the MP adopted last year, completing the MP. Canada’s proposal outlines the rare or unforeseen scenarios that could warrant reconsidering the application of the MP, as well as a decision tree for how to handle related deliberations on both the science and management sides. This ECP is a bit more flexible than prior ones adopted by ICCAT, largely due to this year’s experience with the exceptional circumstances review for ICCAT’s most iconic and controversial species, Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Which brings us to the hottest topic – and one of the disappointments – of ICCAT 2025:
This year marked the end of the first management cycle of the Atlantic bluefin tuna MP adopted in 2022, a huge step forward for the species that had once been the posterchild of overfishing, leading to ICCAT being called “an international disgrace” and a travesty in fisheries management.” In addition to running the adopted MP to set the western and eastern TACs for the next management cycle (2026-28), ICCAT scientists also did their standard annual check for exceptional circumstances. And that’s where things got more complicated.
New science using genetic analysis methods produced the first census estimate of the size of the western stock that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico. The scale of the western population size was one of the most influential uncertainties in the MSE, so having a point estimate represented a major step forward for bluefin science. However, ICCAT scientists could not agree on whether the new information constituted an official exceptional circumstance, as laid out by the ECP, since the new point estimate of stock biomass falls within the range considered in the original MSE. Nonetheless, ICCAT scientists did a light revision of the MSE and subsequently updated the original MP, providing two separate MPs and associated TACs to the Commission as the scientific advice – BR, the originally adopted MP, and BR*, the new revised MP.
This unfortunately opened the door to extensive negotiations here in Seville on the MP and how to implement it. After days of debate on 10 separate formal proposals, ICCAT ended by continuing to operate under the originally adopted BR MP, but with incomplete implementation. The adopted eastern measure implements the MP-based TAC (near final draft here). However, in the West, the new measure sets a TAC 20% higher than allowed under the originally adopted MP, with an extra 100 t transfer from the East to the West to use for bycatch in the vicinity of the West/East management boundary. The final TAC represents a 17% increase in the western TAC, counter to the MP.
This is not how the MP process is supposed to work. First, the ECP for Atlantic bluefin tuna is very clear. The first step is to answer the question, “Is there evidence of an exceptional circumstance?” If the answer is yes, then further investigations should be considered, such as revising the MP. But ICCAT scientists did the revision before first answering the question. This led to the scientific advice including two separate MPs with two separate sets of 2026-28 TACs, complicating Commission negotiations. Second, an MP should be implemented fully or it jeopardizes the expected performance and ability to achieve management objectives. The sanctioned 20% western overage was chosen as the highest level that can be taken in the western area without triggering an exceptional circumstance. However, prior MSE testing found that a 20% overage would cause the MP to fail to achieve the Safety management objective, resulting in a higher than agreed upon risk of breaching the limit reference point. Thankfully, there is an MP review scheduled for the next few years that provides an opportunity to get back on course with a bluefin MP that is likely to achieve Commission objectives.
The other disappointment was the inability to pass the European Union’s proposal to adopt management objectives for North and South Atlantic blue sharks. Nevertheless, there was support for the two stocks’ MSEs to start in 2026, building on progress to date, including that made at the Global Blue Shark MSE workshop that we co-hosted last month.
As the gavel drops on this year’s annual meeting, ICCAT has a lot to be proud of, with MPs adopted for 5 of its key stocks and MSEs in process for 6 additional stocks. But MPs are not just paper rules. It’s critical to not only adopt them, but also to fully implement them. To not just set the rules but to continue to stick to them, whether the MP calls for increasing or decreasing fishing. It is notable that this was the first year that an ICCAT MP called for a TAC decrease, and ICCAT didn’t implement it. As ICCAT continues to modernize and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its management through the MP approach, members need to recommit to preventing politics and short-term catch desires from infiltrating and compromising the MSE-based MP process.