Tuna purse seiner. (Photo: MADE Project)

IOTC accepts Seychelles’ tuna catch restriction proposal

Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) member countries have agreed on the proposal made by Seychelles to use 2015 instead of 2014 as the baseline year to reduce yellowfin tuna catch by 15 per cent.

According to Seychelles News agency, the motion was passed despite severe opposition from nations not directly linked to the Indian Ocean such as Japan and South Korea, and the European Union during the IOTC’s 21st session in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, held from May 22 to 26.

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Michael Benstrong compares the approval of the Seychelles’ proposal with ‘winning gold at the IOTC’.

“This time with a new team we managed to make unpreceded headway. We had to make some compromises in our original proposal, but our core needs have been realised,” said Minister Benstrong.

For his part, the chair of the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), Nirmal Jivan Shah, said that with the approval they prevented their local fishing boats from being tied up in port and at the same time conserving tuna stocks by limiting the number of fish aggregating devices (FADs) by 20 per cent more.

Shah added that this will also limit “the supply vessels that deploy and manage the FADs by 50 per cent by 2022, after which this figure will be examined for further reduction based on scientific advice.”

IOTC decided to reduce fishing allowances of the yellowfin tuna by 15 per cent beginning of this year based on the total catch of 2014.

Seychelles had accepted the resolution during the 20th session in 2016 but later realised the impact the chosen year would that have had on its economy with fishing being the second top contributor.

“By using the 2014 reference year, a “piracy year” with few operational fishing vessels, there would have been severe hardships in our economy starting from the Seychelles-flagged tuna vessels cascading right down our economy affecting livelihoods and various other sectors including tourism,” said Minister Benstrong.

Sixteen motions were presented to IOTC member countries for approval and only eight were approved. Seychelles had three other motions, two of which were adopted.

In this regard, the minister explained that in one of the adopted motions they boarded the subject of implementing conservative measures and in the other, they asked for a ban on the throwing of by-catches back into the ocean, suggesting that these fish be taken to shore and used for export or processed.

In addition, Seychelles asked the Secretariat of the Commission to carry out a study to measure the impact that certain motions can have on small states such as theirs as well as Mauritius and Maldives.
 
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