Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations Need to Prioritize Transition to Management Procedures

Abstract

Tuna regional fisheries management organizations (tRFMO) have made strong commitments to developing and implementing management procedures as a more effective and science‐based alternative to traditional management approaches. Management procedures have become popular in fisheries management as they use management strategy evaluation testing to successfully account for uncertainty, balance tradeoffs among competing objectives, and establish an algorithm to set fishing opportunities based on stock status. While four tRFMOs have seven management procedures in place and all five tRFMOs are developing management procedures for an additional 15 stocks, delays in development are widespread. No tRFMO has adhered to its agreed‐upon adoption deadline for all 22 management procedures, with 13 management procedure deadlines being delayed by four or more years. Such delays can be reduced or avoided through increased stakeholder involvement, market pressure, and support from external organizations and governments, all of which can be achieved through capacity building as well as the establishment and regular meeting of science–management dialogue groups.