Rebuilding southern bluefin tuna: on the advantages of using fully-tested management procedures for setting catch quotas

PARMA, A.M.

Seattle

Seminario; 2024 Bevan Series; 2024

School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science

At the turn of the century, the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna epitomized the perceived failure of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations to achieve sustainable management of highly migratory stocks. The spawning biomass of southern bluefin tuna was severely depleted, at less than 10% its unexploited level, and a dysfunctional scientific process could not agree on best advice given the uncertainty surrounding the interpretations of declining catch rates. At the Commission level, consensus-based decisions on catch quotas were not achieved for several years and status quo prevailed despite increasing deterioration of stock status. The restructuring of the advisory process, coupled with the full endorsement of a plan to design a formal rebuilding strategy, culminated in 2011 with the adoption of a fully-tested management procedure, i.e., a pre-agreed set of rules used to adjust catch quotas as a function of stock-size indicators. This, along with improved abundance estimation through innovative gene-tagging methods and the implementation of more effective controls on catches, has placed the stock on a rebuilding trajectory.