Progress at the 24th Special Meeting of ICCAT: New Measures for the Spanish Longline Fleet.

During this session, important measures involving the Spanish surface longline fleet, one of the most important in Europe in terms of swordfish and blue shark catches, were approved:

• For the evaluation of management strategies (MSE) for North Atlantic swordfish in line with the management objectives a management procedure (MP) MCC11 was adopted. The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) derived from the application of the MP is 14,769 tons and will be applied in 2025, 2026 and 2027. The duration of the management cycle will be three years, so the MP will be applied every three years.
• A new SSM process to start in 2025 for North and South Atlantic blue shark.

On the other hand, no progress has been made on the ICCAT recommendation on the conservation of sharks caught in association with fisheries under ICCAT competence (Rec. 04-10). After 16 years of trying to adopt a “naturally attached fins” policy and to improve the collection of species-specific data, it is stalled due to the refusal of some Contracting Parties (CPCs). Despite this, all EU fleets have been obliged to comply with the legislation applied in that field since 2013.

Finally, it has been possible to adopt a series of recommendations to make progress on the objectives for sustainable purposes. The aim of the permanent working group dedicated to the dialogue between managers and fisheries scientists (SWGSM) is to improve communication and foster mutual understanding between managers and fisheries scientists by establishing a forum to exchange views and support the effective development and implementation of management measures and scientific work related to cross-cutting issues.