Pirate Booty: How ICCAT is failing to regulate pirate fishing

Publication - June 3, 2008

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Executive summary: The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is charged with the management of fisheries for tuna and tuna-like species –including albacore (Thunnus alalunga), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius)– throughout the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

Every year ICCAT Contracting Parties meet to discuss the rules governing these fisheries, such as quotas, time and area closures and other technical measures, limits on fishing capacity and effort, or trade sanctions.

This report exposes the weakness of current regulations governing tuna fisheries and the widespread occurrence of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities in the ICCAT Convention Area. Building on work conducted by Greenpeace over the past several years, it provides numerous examples of such IUU activities, including those which Greenpeace has observed directly.

Num. pages: 52

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