User menu
A sub-group of the Working Party on Methods met at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC JRC) in Ispra, Italy between the 25th-28th of March to review work on different Operating Models and the initial Management Procedures being evaluated for stocks under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. In addition, training material for capacity building in the region with regard to the Management Procedure Evaluation (MPE) was developed and discussed at this meeting. The meeting was fruitful as it made substantial progress on two of the operating models, namely skipjack tuna and albacore, and is well on the road to achieving its targets by the end of calendar year 2014. As far as the other species were concerned, a project is attempting to start developing operating models for both bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna.
The objective of the small working group is to finalize the Operating Models and a set of initial Management Procedures in time for the upcoming session of Working Party on Methods, to be later reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Another training session on MPE will be carried out this year as well. The sub-group is also involved in the preparation of the 1st Management Procedures Dialogue workshop that will take place prior to the next IOTC plenary meeting, on 31 May 2014.
Management Procedures are mechanisms, including data collection, evaluation of trends and status and a decision rule, that aim to apply the precautionary approach to the management of fish stocks. The Management Procedure approach evaluates the robustness and capabilities of a range of Management Procedures under a range of scenarios and uncertainties, so that the associated risks and likely outcomes are quantified and understood. These principles are developed to maintain the long-term yield and biomass of the stock, so as to prevent overfishing and biomass depletion on these species in the Indian Ocean. IOTC is currently developing these analyses and engaging in the necessary dialogue for agreements to be reached on the best way to sucessfully manage these stocks.