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In these reports, we share our research-based recommendations for sustainable tuna fisheries management, covering observer programs, transshipment, and many other key topics.

Best practices reports are authored by our fisheries policy experts and/or fisheries scientists. See also our companion “best practices snapshots” series and our scientific reports.

ISSF 2023-05: Tuna RFMO Compliance Assessment Processes: A Comparative Analysis to Identify Best Practices*

Date Added: June 5, 2023
Authors: Holly Koehler
Downloaded: 29 times
Tags: Best Practices, CCSBT, Compliance, IATTC, ICCAT, IOTC, RFMOs, WCPFC
Language: English
Featured: True
Report Type: Technical Report

Description

Each of the five international Regional Fisheries Management Organizations responsible for highly migratory species (“tuna RFMOs”) has an annual mechanism to monitor and assess the compliance of members, and in some cases cooperating non-members (CNMs), with their obligations and commitments under the RFMO convention and its conservation and management measures.

This technical report examines each of these tuna RFMO compliance mechanisms with respect to the range of obligations and commitments that are assessed, the current operational conditions of each compliance assessment process, what tools are available to respond to instances of non-compliance, and the public availability of information about the level of compliance of RFMO members or CNMs and their actions to address areas of identified non-compliance. 

The recommendations of each of the most recent tuna RFMO Performance Review Panels with respect to compliance are reviewed, and cross-cutting themes are identified.  This report also considers whether RFMO compliance assessment processes incentivize improvement in member compliance and in the performance of the RFMO as an institution. It also explores other aspects of designing or ensuring an effective RFMO compliance assessment system. In the final section, a set of Best Practices for monitoring, assessing, and addressing non-compliance in RFMOs is identified.

See also our RFMO Best Practices Snapshot on compliance processes.