A regional fishery body (RFB) is a type of
international organization
An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...
that is dedicated to the sustainability of
fishery resources in a particular region, or of highly migratory species. An RFB is classified as one of the following two types:
* regional fishery management organisation (RFMO)
* regional fishery advisory body (RFAB).
RFABs issue non-binding recommendations only, but they are usually organised as more independent, impartial expert bodies, expected to be guided by science rather than political interests of its members. RFMOs are in turn more politicised, but their decisions are binding for the members and subject to enforcement. Therefore, the usually science-focused recommendations issued by the relatively independent RFABs often constitute the scientific input to the RMFOs, where they are subject to political negotiations between the members, in order to adjust them to social and economic reality and to translate them into politically acceptable and tenable binding decisions, which the RMFOs subsequently enforce.
Regional fishery management organisation
A regional fishery management organisation (RFMO) is a type of RFB entrusted with sustainable management of fish stocks in a particular region, or of highly migratory species.
RFMOs may be classified as belonging to one or more of the three types:
* General or generic RFMOs which have a wider remit related to living marine resources in general within a region; examples include:
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General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
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North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission
The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is a general regional fishery management organisation that maintains controls over fishing and fishing-related acts in the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Nordic Seas, the Barents Sea, the White ...
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Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to provide scientific advice and management of fisheries in the northwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean. NAFO is headquartered in Halifax, N ...
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North Pacific Fisheries Commission
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
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South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation
The South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO) is an organization that maintains controls over fishing and fishing related acts in the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Introduction
Predating the Independence of Namibia in 1990, the Interna ...
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South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation
The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) is an intergovernmental organization created by international treaty, the ''Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Oc ...
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Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement
Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) is an international fisheries agreement between several nations signed in Rome on 7 July 2006 and entered into force on 21 June 2012. The purpose of the agreement is to ensure and promote the long ...
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Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is both a general and a tuna regional fisheries management organisation established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central a ...
* Tuna RFMOs are the 5 RFMOs managing tuna stocks:
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Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) is a Regional fisheries management organisation and international organization with the purpose of managing the stocks of the critically endangered Southern bluefin tuna.
The ...
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Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC; french: CTOI) is an intergovernmental organization that co-ordinates the regulation and management of tuna in the Indian Ocean. Conceived in 1993, it entered into existence in 1996.
A multilateral treaty, t ...
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Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
, motto =
, formation =
, type = tuna regional fishery management organisation
, status = International organization
, purpose = Fisheries management
, headquarters = La Jolla, San Diego, United Sta ...
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Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is both a general and a tuna regional fisheries management organisation established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central a ...
* Specialised RFMOs manage certain other species of marine fauna; examples include:
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North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization
The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation established under the Convention for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1 October 1983.
The organizat ...
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International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...
A regional fishery management arrangement denotes an international fishery agreement which refrains from establishing a formal regional fishery body, while the fishery management is exercised instead directly by the contracting parties, an option limited mostly to cases where there are only two actors in a basin. An example is the
Baltic sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
where, due to reduction in 2004 in the number of actors in the basin from six to just two, the formerly existing general RMFO (the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission) was dissolved in 2007, while according to the new general regional fishery management arrangement, the fishery management tasks have been taken over directly by the two extant actors in the basin, namely the EU and Russia. Nevertheless, the sea has still remained under management by a tuna RMFO (ICCAT) and two other specialised RFMOs dedicated to salmon (NASCO) and whaling (IWC).
This wide diversity of mandates and areas of application, and also effective implementation of regulations, opens up opportunities to combat
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing vessels, though there are also opinions that the system is ineffective.
[http://www.seaaroundus.org/OtherWebsites/2010/EcoPolitology_ResearchShowsWorldsFisheriesManagementSystemFailingMiserably.pdf ]
References
{{Reflist
External links
The official UN FAO directory of all recognised RFMOs by type, as well as RFABs General information and map of RFMOs
Information, Problems and possible improvements
Informal framework for sharing information from tuna RFMOs
Fisheries agencies
International economic organizations