FAD management objectives should be defined and implemented at ICCAT

Tropical tuna fisheries management at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has recently shifted to address the growing use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine operations targeting skipjack, bigeye, and yellowfin tunas. FAD use presents a series of challenges beyond those associated with the targeted stocks. FAD management, therefore, requires a set of specific, quantitative management objectives that simultaneously define ICCAT’s general philosophy for FAD management and provide a measuring stick against which scientists can test the effectiveness of implemented or proposed actions. This need for objectives has been stressed by scientists, industry, and environmental NGOs in several meetings in 2017. ICCAT should develop and incorporate FAD management options into its tropical tuna measures, as soon as possible. Draft general objectives are provided here. These gear-specific objectives should not take the place of stock objectives, but instead the two should be developed and implemented simultaneously. This was a primary conclusion of the 2017 Global FAD Science Symposium and the 2017 Joint tRFMO FAD Working Group Meeting.