Update on the seabird component of the Common Oceans Tuna Project Bronwyn Maree, Cleo Small, Berry Mulligan, Yuna Kim

The project “Sustainable Management of Tuna Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation in the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)”, (also known as the Common Oceans Tuna Project) is a critical component of the GEF supported ABNJ Program “ABNJ Global Sustainable Fisheries Management and Biodiversity Conservation in the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction”. The program objective is to achieve responsibility, efficiency and sustainability in tuna production and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ, through the systematic application of an ecosystem approach in tuna fisheries through: (i) supporting the use of sustainable and efficient fisheries management and fishing practices by the stakeholders of the tuna resources; (ii) reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and (iii) mitigating adverse impacts of bycatch on biodiversity.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the implementing agency of the project. BirdLife International, through its local partner, BirdLife South Africa (BLSA), is implementing the seabird bycatch component of the Common Oceans Tuna Project.
The overall aims of this component are to:
• ensure that the use of best practice seabird bycatch mitigation measures is enhanced and accelerated by fleets operating in critical fishing areas of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and;
• strengthen the capacity of national institutions to manage and conduct analyses of seabird bycatch data and the effectiveness of bycatch mitigation measures and facilitate a joint tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) assessment of the current bycatch mitigation measures contained in the relevant Conservation and Management Measures in tuna longline fisheries.
It will comprise of four elements:
1. National Awareness Workshops
2. Observer Training Workshops
3. Port-based Outreach Pilot Project
4. Seabird Bycatch Assessment Workshops (regional and global)
This paper will report on:
1. The Common Oceans Tuna Project activities since inception 2. The planned activities of the project from 2016-2018.