Contact: Scott Smullen FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 713-2370 11/17/95
Historic provisions -- which include trade sanctions -- to protect Atlantic swordfish, tunas, and billfish from further decline through overfishing have been adopted by an international fisheries commission, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), composed of 22 countries, is an international body concerned with the management of tuna and tuna-like fishes in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. At its meeting this week in Madrid, Spain, ICCAT established long-term allocation shares for swordfish that restored U.S. historical share of the resource.
Additionally, the commission adopted a provision that allows for trade sanctions to be taken against non-ICCAT members who refuse to cooperate with the commission's conservation program for swordfish. The adoption of this trade provision, similar to last yearþs historic trade sanction provisions for Atlantic bluefin tuna, will help ensure that ICCAT conservation measures for swordfish are respected.
"The U.S. focus is on conservation, equity and compliance," said Will Martin, head of the U.S. delegation. "On the equity side last year, we restrained the increase of swordfish catch by certain countries, and this year we were able to take the next step and recover the U.S. historical share by increasing our percentage from 24 percent to 29 percent."
"On the compliance side, ICCAT issued an official warning, for the first time, to specific countries that were identified as undermining the commission's bluefin tuna conservation program, and adopted a new trade measure provision for swordfish. In addition, we enhanced the minimum size regulations, and strengthened the compliance committee," said Martin.
"On the conservation side, we adopted a voluntary program for catch, release and tagging of marlin and other billfish, by commercial as well as recreational fishers, backed by a market-based reward system for recovered tags. We also tightened the allowable catch for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic, and we established terms of reference for rebuilding programs for north Atlantic swordfish and both eastern and western Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Martin.