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The use of drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) continues to threaten endangered, threatened,
and protected species (ETP), as well as the broader marine environment in the form of marine litter
and abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) that can damage fragile coastal ecosystems.
In the Indian Ocean, as in all other ocean regions, there is an urgent need to improve the
management of dFADS, primarily to reduce catches of juvenile tropical tunas, but also to help
mitigate the other ecological impacts associated with drifting FADs, including marine plastic
pollution, ghost fishing and the bycatch of turtles, sharks and marine mammals. The lack of
transparency in how dFADs are deployed, tracked and retrieved and the lack of responsibility dFAD
owners take for the ecosystem and habitat damage and the pollution caused by these devices is of
great concern.
IPNLF is concerned that, despite years of discussions to develop measures to manage drifting fish
aggregating devices (dFADs) within the IOTC area of competence, evidence collected from retrieved
dFADs continue to show systematic non-compliance with management measures. Resolution 23/02
was adopted during the 6th Special Session of the IOTC, this measure is not in force until January 2024,
therefore, this review will focus only on compliance with the existing Resolution 19/02. Resolution
19/02, which was adopted in 2019 and came into force on 1 January 2020, mandates that vessels
follow 300 FADs at any one time and that FADs be non-entangling and be marked with the vessel’s
unique IOTC registration number. However, anecdotal evidence of dFADs collected in the waters of
IOTC coastal states by a FAD recovery project through the University of Exeter shows persistent
non-compliance with this resolution (see Table below). The ongoing ecosystem, habitat and
pollution impacts of these non-compliant drifting FADs is of serious concern and requires the
attention of the Commission.
