Working towards minimising seabird bycatch: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and ACAP renew their Memorandum of Understanding

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

The renewal reaffirms each organisation's commitment “to facilitate cooperation between the IATTC and the ACAP Secretariat with a view to supporting efforts to minimise the incidental by-catch of albatrosses and petrels listed in Annex 1 of ACAP within the IATTC Convention Area.”

A map from the IATTC website indicates the IATTC Convention Area

The MoU promotes cooperation between the organisations in the following areas:

1. development of systems for collecting and analysing data, and exchanging information concerning the bycatch of albatrosses and petrels in the IATTC Convention Area;
2. exchange of information regarding management approaches directly or indirectly relevant to the conservation of albatrosses and petrels;
3. implementation of education and awareness programmes for fishers who operate in areas where albatrosses and petrels may be encountered;
4. design, testing and implementation of albatross and petrel bycatch mitigation measures relevant to fishing operations in the IATTC Convention Area;
5. development of training programmes on conservation techniques and measures to mitigate threats affecting albatrosses and petrels;
6. exchange of expertise, techniques and knowledge relevant to the conservation of albatrosses and petrels in the IATTC Convention Area; and
7. reciprocal participation with observer status at the relevant meetings of ACAP and IATTC.

ACAP’s Executive Secretary Dr Christine Bogle and IATTC Senior Policy Advisor, Jean-François Pulvenis signed the MoU earlier this year in May. First signed in July 2011, the MoU has now been renewed with a clause to automatically extend every six-years unless the Participants decide otherwise.

10 July 2023