The Commission

Objectives

To promote cooperation among the Contracting Parties (Members) and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties of the IOTC with a view to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilisation of stocks covered by the organisation’s establishing Agreement and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks.

Function and responsibilities

The Commission has four key functions and responsibilities which enable it to achieve its objectives. They are drawn from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and are:

• to keep under review the conditions and trends of the stocks and to gather, analyse and disseminate scientific information, catch and effort statistics and other data relevant to the conservation and management of the stocks and to fisheries based on the stocks;
• to encourage, recommend, and coordinate research and development activities in respect of the stocks and fisheries covered by the IOTC, and such other activities as the Commission may decide appropriate, such as transfer of technology, training and enhancement, having due regard to the need to ensure the equitable participation of Members of the Commission in the fisheries and the special interests and needs of Members in the region that are developing countries;  to view the current capacity building activities of the Commission please visit the Capacity Building page;
• to adopt – on the basis of scientific evidence – Conservation and Management Measures (CMM) to ensure the conservation of the stocks covered by the Agreement and to promote the objective of their optimum utilisation throughout the Area;
• to keep under review the economic and social aspects of the fisheries based on the stocks covered by the Agreement bearing in mind, in particular, the interests of developing coastal States.

IOTC Performance Monitoring

At the 11^th Annual Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), held in Grand Baie, Mauritius on 13-18 May 2007, the Commission agreed to undertake review of its performance since its inception in 1996, through an evaluation process aimed at identifying weaknesses and gaps in its structure and necessary actions to improve its effectiveness and efficiency in fulfilling its mandate. Similarly, in 2013 at its 17^th Session, the Commission agreed to undertake a second formal Performance Review process.
Please visit the Performance Review pages to follow this process.