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RECALLING the Recommendation by ICCAT on Establishing Statistical Document Programs for Swordfish, Bigeye Tuna and Other Species Managed by ICCAT adopted by the Commission in 2000 in which the full implementation of the program was required by 1 January 2002, or as soon as possible thereafter;
AWARE that there is uncertainty of the catch of Atlantic bigeye tuna and that the availability of trade data would greatly assist in reducing such uncertainty;
RECOGNIZING that Atlantic bigeye tuna is the main target species of IUU fishing operations and that most of the bigeye harvested by such IUU fishing vessels are exported to Contracting Parties, especially to Japan;
RECALLING the Recommendation by ICCAT Regarding Belize, Cambodia, Honduras, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Pursuant to the 1998 Resolution Concerning the Unreported and Unregulated Catches of Tuna by Large-scale Longline Vessels in the Convention Area and the Recommendation by ICCAT Regarding Equatorial Guinea Pursuant to the 1998 Resolution Concerning the Unreported and Unregulated Catches of Tuna by Largescale Longline Vessels in the Convention Area adopted by the Commission in 2000;
RECOGNIZING that the Statistical Document Program is an effective tool to assist the Commission’s effort for the elimination of IUU fishing operations;
1Contracting Parties, by July 1, 2002 or as soon as possible thereafter, require that all bigeye tuna, when imported into the territory of a Contracting Party, be accompanied by an ICCAT Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document which meets the requirements described in Annex 1 or an ICCAT Bigeye Tuna Re-export Certificate which meets the requirements described in Annex 2. Bigeye tuna caught by purse seiners and pole and line (bait) vessels and destined principally for the canneries in the Convention area are not subject to this statistical document requirement. The Commission and the Contracting Parties importing bigeye tuna shall contact all the exporting countries to inform them of this program, in advance of implementation of the program.
(1)The ICCAT Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document must be validated by a government official, or other authorized individual or institution, of the flag state of the vessel that harvested the tuna, or, if the vessel is operating under a charter arrangement, by a government official or other authorized individual of the exporting state;
(2)The ICCAT Bigeye Tuna Re-export Certificate must be validated by a government official or other authorized individual of the state that re-exported the tuna; and
(3)The substitutional measure described in paragraphs A-D of the Resolution by ICCAT Concerning Validation by a Government Official of the Bluefin Tuna Statistical Document, adopted by the Commission in 1993, may be applied to the above requirements for both validations in this Bigeye Statistical Document Program. The substitutional measure should also apply mutatis mutandis to chartering arrangements as provided in paragraph 2(1) above.
3Each Contracting Party shall provide to the Executive Secretary sample forms of its statistical document and re-export certificate required with bigeye tuna imports and information on validation in the format specified in Annex 4 and inform him of any change in a timely fashion.
5The Contracting Parties which import bigeye tuna shall report the data collected by the Program to the Executive Secretary each year by April 1 for the period of July 1-December 31 of the preceding year and October 1 for the period of January 1-June 30 of the current year, which shall be circulated to all the Contracting Parties by the Executive Secretary. The formats of the report are attached as Annex 3.
6The Contracting Parties which export bigeye tuna shall examine export data upon receiving the import data mentioned in paragraph 5 above from the Executive Secretary, and report the results to the Commission in the national reports.
7The Contracting Parties should exchange copies of statistical documents and re-export certificates to facilitate the examination mentioned in paragraph 6, consistent with domestic laws and regulations.
8The Commission shall request Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties, Entities, Fishing Entities to take the measures described in the above paragraphs.
9The Executive Secretary shall request information on validation from all the non-Contracting Parties fishing and exporting bigeye tuna to Contracting Parties, and request them to inform him in a timely fashion of any changes to the information provided.
10The Executive Secretary shall maintain and update information specified in paragraphs 3 and 9 and provide it to all the Contracting Parties, and promptly circulate any changes.
11The Commission shall request the non-Contracting Parties which import bigeye tuna to cooperate with implementation of the Program and to provide to the Commission data obtained from such implementation.
13At the initial stage of the program, the statistical documents and the re-export certificates will be required for frozen bigeye products. Prior to implementing this Program for fresh products, several practical problems need to be solved, such as guidelines to ensure procedures to handle fresh products at customs.
14The provisions of the Recommendation by ICCAT on Validation of the Bluefin Tuna Statistical Documents by the European Community, adopted by the Commission in 1998, shall apply to the Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document Program for bigeye caught by vessels that fly the flag of a Member State of the European Community.
15Notwithstanding the provisions of Article VIII, paragraph 2, of the Convention, the Contracting Parties shall implement this recommendation by July 1, 2002 or as soon as possible thereafter in accordance with the regulatory procedures of each Contacting Party.
Note from the Secretariat: The ICCAT Bigeye Tuna Statistical Document and accompanying instructions were adopted under the Recommendation by ICCAT Concerning the Amendment of the Forms of the ICCAT Bluefin/Bigeye/Swordfish Statistical Documents [Ref. 03-19], and replace those originally adopted.