Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
Also called: IOTC · Topic: Movements of Ocean Water: Waves, Tides and Currents · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is a group of governments that manages tuna and tuna-like fish across the Indian Ocean. It was set up under the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Tuna are migratory fish, which means they swim long distances and cross the sea borders of many countries. So no single country's EEZ (the sea zone where a country has rights over marine resources) can protect a tuna stock alone. The IOTC checks the health of each stock and adopts rules called resolutions, such as catch cuts, that its members must follow. This matters because if one fleet holds back, another fleet can still catch the same fish.
Example
The IOTC has found that yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean is overfished, meaning too few fish are left. It is also subject to overfishing, meaning fish are still caught faster than they can breed back. Under its Resolution 21/01, members whose yellowfin catch in 2014 was above 5,000 tonnes had to cut it by 21%. Fleets that were left out caught more, so total yellowfin catch in 2018 was about 9% above the 2014/15 level. Lakshadweep, the island group off Kerala in the Arabian Sea, fishes these shared yellowfin stocks. Through Resolution 23/03, the IOTC also asks members to keep their tuna vessels out of its area for at least 31 days in a row, as a voluntary step.
Don't confuse with
- Indian Ocean Commission: a group of island states in the western Indian Ocean, such as Mauritius, Madagascar and Seychelles, that work together on regional issues. It does not manage tuna stocks.