Highly Migratory Species Report

ICCAT Recreational Commissioner Appointed

President Bush appointed Washington-based lawyer, Robert G. Hayes, as the new US recreational commissioner to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. (ICCAT)

He is a partner with Ball Janik in Washington, DC where his practice focuses on international trade, energy and natural resources. He had worked as a staff attorney at NOAA. He had served with NMFS as Deputy Assistant Counsel for fisheries and as Director of the Office of Industry services. Hayes is currently general counsel for the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and The American Sportfishing Association.

ICCAT is an organization responsible for the conservation of tunas, swordfish, marlin in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. They are given the authority to write the rules that will conserve these fish. They were organized in 1969. There has been high expectations for ICCAT management of the Atlantic Oceans Highly Migratory Species (HMS). Unfortunately, after 33 years of management that expectation is more hope than fact. 

ICCAT recommends rules that its members are expected and bound by international agreement to follow. The major problem is ICCAT rules and regulations are self-imposed by each member country on themselves.

After rule-making the usual result has been that the ICCAT commissioner representing a country agrees to observe and follow new ICCAT rules. That nation’s commissioner then goes before their government and requests that they approve ICCAT restrictions on their commercial fishermen. Usually that country’s government refuses to pass or enforce the agreed-to ICCAT mandate.

If a nation does not impose or follow ICCAT rules nothing happens except they get verbal abuse from their fellow members at the next ICCAT meeting. Trade sanctions are supposed to be the tough tool that keeps ICCAT members in line. So far, European and African member countries have observed few of the ICCAT rules they approved. The expected trade sanction for members has never been imposed.

The entire procedure reached its zenith of absurdity last November when the Eastern Atlantic management zone refused to accept previously agreed to cuts in their Bluefin tuna quotas. The result was no ICCAT rules were passed by the Eastern Zone members on their 2002 Bluefin tuna season.

The US has followed ICCAT rules and imposed tougher and tougher rules on the

US recreational and commercial fishers. The US is the only country in the world that imposes rules on their recreational fishermen. Such unilateral conservation of fish                                                                

that cross and recross the ocean has not resulted in a major rebound for any fishery. In fact, all stocks continue to decline.  I trust this is not a surprise to anyone. 

At this time, for all practical purposes, the US recreational angler has been regulated out of their Bluefin tuna fishery. Similar tough unilateral rules on recreational yellowfin tuna, shark and swordfish have produced no major rebound for any of those species.  The rules the US agreed to at ICCAT for the recreational US Marlin fisheries are absurd. The rules limit recreational landings to a few hundred marlins a year.

At what point does it become silly for the US to keep supporting ICCAT?  The rest of the world refuses to follow, observe or enforce ICCAT rules on their fishers.  Meanwhile, the US imposes tougher rules on their fishermen only to watch as the US conserved fish are caught and sold by ICCAT member nations not following the rules.  And if more insanity is needed, the US conserved fish are then imported into the US for sale to conserving US consumers. Isn’t 33 years of this absurd international dog and pony show called ICCAT enough?