Report of the 2020 ICCAT intersessional meeting of the sub-committee on ecosystems

In conjunction with the proposal to develop an Ecosystem report card for ICCAT, the Sub-committee met online May 4-6, 2020 to review progress on the inter-sessional exercise to update the status of the 11 ecosystem components that were identified. The indicators described in the assessments were used to form the basis for a revised prototype report card that will be presented to the Commission in 2020. As in 2019, the Sub-committee aimed to continue the work required to assess the feasibility of and provide information towards implementing ecosystems-based fisheries management (EBFM) in agreement with Resolution 15-11 and Article IV of the recently amended ICCAT Convention. Pertaining to by-catch the Group did the following: 1. Reviewed the final product of the collaborative work related to seabirds; presented progress of collaborative work on sea turtles; and developed indicators for the ecosystem report card.