Resolution 15/08 Procedures on a FADs management plan, including a limitation on the number of FADs, more detailed specs of catch reporting from FAD sets, & the development of improved FAD designs to reduce incidence of entanglement of non-target species

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC),

BEARING IN MIND that the Agreement for the implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (UNFSA) encourages coastal States and fishing States on the high seas to collect and share, in a timely manner, complete and accurate data concerning fishing activities on, inter alia, vessel position, catch of target and non-target species and fishing effort;

MINDFUL of the call upon States, either individually, collectively or through regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/79 on Sustainable fisheries to collect the necessary data in order to evaluate and closely monitor the use of large-scale fish aggregating devices and others, as appropriate, and their effects on tuna resources and tuna behaviour and associated and dependent species, to improve management procedures to monitor the number, type and use of such devices and to mitigate possible negative effects on the ecosystem, including on juveniles and the incidental bycatch of non-target species, particularly sharks and marine turtles;

NOTING that the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing provides that States should compile fishery-related and other supporting scientific data relating to fish stocks covered by sub-regional or regional fisheries management organisations and provide them in a timely manner to the organisation;

RECOGNISING that all gears deployed to target resources under the competence of IOTC should be managed to ensure the sustainability of fishing operations;

GIVEN that the activities of supply vessels and the use of Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD) are an integral part of the fishing effort exerted by the purse seine fleet;

AWARE that the Commission is committed to adopt Conservation and Management Measures to reduce juvenile bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna mortalities from fishing effort on Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs);

RECALLING that Resolution 12/04 established that the Commission at its annual session in 2013 should consider the recommendations of the IOTC Scientific Committee as regards the development of improved FAD designs to reduce the incidence of entanglement of marine turtles, including the use of biodegradable materials, together with socio-economic considerations, with a view to adopting further measures to mitigate interactions with marine turtles in fisheries covered by the IOTC Agreement;

RECALLING that Resolution 13/08 [superseded by Resolution 15/08] established procedures on a fish aggregating device (FAD) management plan, including more detailed specifications of catch reporting from FAD sets, and the development of improved FAD designs to reduce the incidence of entanglement of non-target species;

NOTING that the IOTC Scientific Committee advised the Commission that only non-entangling FADs, both drifting and anchored, should be designed and deployed to prevent the entanglement of sharks, marine turtles and other species;

NOTING that the IOTC Scientific Committee advised the Commission to conduct an investigation of the feasibility and impacts of a temporary FAD closure as well as other measures in the context of Indian Ocean fisheries and stocks;

RECALLING that the objective of the IOTC Agreement is to ensure, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilisation of stocks covered by the mentioned Agreement and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks and minimising the level of bycatch;

ADOPTS, in accordance with the provisions of Article IX, paragraph 1 of the IOTC Agreement, the following: