[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 709 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 709
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should pursue
the adoption of bluefin tuna conservation and management measures at
the 16th Special Meeting of the International Commission on the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 19, 2008
Mr. Kerry (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Reed,
Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
November 20, 2008
Committee discharged; considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should pursue
the adoption of bluefin tuna conservation and management measures at
the 16th Special Meeting of the International Commission on the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
Whereas Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery is valuable commercially and
recreationally in the United States and many other countries;
Whereas the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
entered into force on March 21, 1969;
Whereas the Convention established the International Commission for the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to coordinate international research and
develop, implement, and enforce compliance of the conservation and
management recommendations on the Atlantic bluefin tuna and other highly
migratory species in the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seas, including
the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas in 1974, the Commission adopted its first conservation and management
recommendation to ensure the sustainability of Atlantic bluefin tuna
throughout the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, while allowing for
the maximum sustainable catch for food and other purposes;
Whereas in 1981, for management purposes, the Commission adopted a working
hypothesis of 2 Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks, with 1 occurring west of
45 degrees west longitude (hereinafter referred to as the ``western
Atlantic stock'') and the other occurring east of 45 degrees west
longitude (hereinafter referred to as the ``eastern Atlantic and
Mediterranean stock'');
Whereas, despite scientific recommendations intended to maintain bluefin tuna
populations at levels that will permit the maximum sustainable yield and
ensure the future of the stocks, the total allowable catch quotas have
been consistently set at levels significantly higher than the
recommended levels for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock;
Whereas despite the establishment by the Commission of fishing quotas based on
total allowable catch levels for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean
bluefin tuna fishery that exceed scientific recommendations, compliance
with such quotas by parties to the Convention that harvest that stock
has been extremely poor, most recently with harvests exceeding such
total allowable catch levels by more than 50 percent for each of the
last 4 years;
Whereas insufficient data reporting in combination with unreliable national
catch statistics has frequently undermined efforts by the Commission to
assign quota overharvests to specific countries;
Whereas the failure of many Commission members fishing east of 45 degrees west
longitude to comply with other Commission recommendations to conserve
and control the overfished eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin
tuna stock has been an ongoing problem;
Whereas the Commission's Standing Committee on Research and Statistics noted in
its 2006 report that the fishing mortality rate for the eastern Atlantic
and Mediterranean stock may be more than 3 times the level that would
permit the stock to stabilize at the maximum sustainable catch level,
and continuing to fish at the level of recent years ``is expected to
drive the spawning biomass to a very low level'' giving ``rise to a high
risk of fishery and stock collapse'';
Whereas the Standing Committee's 2008 report recommended that the annual harvest
levels for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna be reduced
from 32,000 metric tons to 15,000 metric tons or less to halt decline of
the resource and initiate rebuilding;
Whereas the Standing Committee has stated that time and area closures could
greatly facilitate the implementation and monitoring of rebuilding
strategies and recommended a closure of the Mediterranean Sea in May,
June, and July, as well as a minimum size limit of 25 kilograms;
Whereas in 2006, the Commission adopted the ``Recommendation by ICCAT to
Establish a Multi-Annual Recovery Plan for Bluefin Tuna in the eastern
Atlantic and Mediterranean'' containing a wide range of management,
monitoring, and control measures designed to facilitate the recovery of
the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock;
Whereas the Recovery Plan is inadequate and allows overfishing and stock decline
to continue, and initial information indicates that implementation of
the plan in 2007 by many eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna
harvesting countries has been poor;
Whereas since 1981, the Commission has adopted additional and more restrictive
conservation and management recommendations for the western Atlantic
bluefin tuna stock, and these recommendations have been implemented by
Nations fishing west of 45 degrees west longitude, including the United
States;
Whereas despite adopting, fully implementing, and complying with a science-based
rebuilding program for the western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock by
countries fishing west of 45 degrees west longitude, catches and catch
rates remain very low;
Whereas many scientists believe that mixing occurs between the western Atlantic
bluefin tuna stock and the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock, and
as such, poor management and noncompliance with recommendations for one
stock are likely to have an adverse effect on the other stock; and
Whereas additional research on stock mixing will improve the understanding of
the relationship between eastern and western bluefin tuna stocks and
other fisheries, which will assist in the conservation, recovery, and
management of the species throughout its range: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States
delegation to the 16th Special Meeting of the International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, should--
(1) pursue a meaningful assessment of Commission member
compliance with the ``Recommendation by ICCAT to Establish a
Multi-Annual Recovery Plan for Bluefin Tuna in the eastern
Atlantic and Mediterranean'' (Recommendation 06-05), including
seeking detailed explanations from Commission members that have
failed to effectively implement the terms of the
recommendation;
(2) pursue the adoption by the Commission of measures
designed to eliminate non-compliance, including, as
appropriate, deducting a portion of a future quota for a party
to compensate for such party exceeding its quota in prior
years, and where appropriate, steps should be taken to link
non-compliance with reductions in fishery or market access;
(3) seek a temporary suspension of the eastern Atlantic and
Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, including all trade, if
significant progress toward establishing science-based
management measures, improving monitoring and control measures,
and addressing compliance issues is not made at the Commission
this year;
(4) seek to strengthen the conservation and management of
the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna by making
recommendations to halt the decline of the stock and begin to
rebuild it, including reducing annual harvest levels so that
they do not exceed recommendations of the Standing Committee
and expanding the time and area closure for the Mediterranean
purse seine fleet to include May, June, and July; and
(5) pursue additional research on the relationship between
the western Atlantic and eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean
bluefin tuna stocks and the extent to which the populations
intermingle.
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