Ecuador heads the International Tropical Tuna Commission

During the 101st annual meeting of the Inter-American Commission for Tropical Tuna (CIAT), which was held in the Canadian city of Victoria, the Deputy Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Andrés Arens, was appointed president of this body, which is “responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and other marine species in Eastern Pacific Ocean”.

The reasons why the Ecuadorian official received the unanimous support of the representatives of the 21 participating countries, according to the statement, were the results that Ecuador achieved in technological improvements in traceability and sustainability; fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; as well as for the commitment to the conservation of fishing resources.

In less than four years, Ecuador went from being an “uncooperative and punished” country to chairing the most important international agreement against illegal fishing.

“At meetings like this, we seek consensus in the shortest possible time. With our work, agreements were reached that previously took years to achieve a good result. For example, at the next meeting of this Commission, issues related to conservation measures will be discussed, and it is important to properly focus the discussions on that topic,” said Arens.

With this designation, Ecuador is committed to “global food security, conservation and sustainable management of marine resources; the ability to promote international cooperation in the responsible management of populations of tropical tuna and tuna of similar species. In addition, addressing the environmental and economic challenges that countries face in using these resources.

During the meeting which was held from 7 to 11 August in Victoria, the Deputy Minister presented several conservation measures for southern tuna, including the enabling of FAD harvesting projects, the presence of observers in the longline fleet, rules to control the harvest of skipjack tuna.

The Deputy Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries also chairs the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (Amerp) until 2025, the most important and relevant binding international agreement in the fight against these irregularities. That appointment was granted unanimously last May, with 101 votes, at the plenary session of the Fourth Meeting of the Parties of AMERP.

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