Next steps in cooperation between CCAMLR and the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA)

CCAMLR and the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) signed an Arrangement last year that included several areas for cooperation between the two organizations. Before this process was completed, however, significant fishing took place in SIOFA waters on toothfish stocks that straddle between the two areas. ASOC believes such fishing was not in the spirit of the Arrangement or the CAMLR Convention, and recommends that CCAMLR take the following steps:

• Convene a joint CCAMLR-SIOFA technical workshop as soon as possible to advance cooperation as specified in the Arrangement.
• Request that SIOFA, at its next Meeting of Parties (MoP), enact Conservation and Management Measures (CMMs) with the same substantive provisions as all CCAMLR CMs relevant to the toothfish fishery.
• Enact a Conservation Measure affirming the responsibility of Members who fish in adjacent areas on CCAMLR straddling stocks to follow all CCAMLR CMs.
• Request SIOFA to adopt the CCAMLR process for setting toothfish TACs as the basis for the TACs of these straddling toothfish stocks in the SIOFA Area.