The Maldives will host representatives of the Indian Ocean’s coastal and small island developing states for a tuna harvest strategies workshop 3 to 4 February 2016. The central goal of the meeting is to reach agreement on a harvest control rule for tuna stocks under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in advance of the commission’s May session.
The workshop is being led by the Maldives government and the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), assisted with technical support and sponsorship from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Marine Stewardship Council. Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer and World Wise Foods – all members of the IPNLF – are also supporting the workshop.
The Maldives was chosen as the workshop host due to its status as the first Indian Ocean country to receive MSC certification for its pole-and-line skipjack tuna fishery.
“The Maldives is … playing a key role at the IOTC to develop the region’s sustainable fishing credentials by helping to establish limits and targets for the stocks and harvest control rules, as well as requirements for better information gathering in relation to vessel infringements and protection of endangered, threatened and protected species,” said Shiham Adam, IPNLF’s Director for Science and the Maldives. “We are grateful for the leadership that the Maldives authorities continue to demonstrate with regards to the conservation of Indian Ocean tuna stocks.”
