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Box 5: The 2003 Antigua Convention and the strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission"On 27 June 2003, at its 70th meeting, held in Antigua (Guatemala), the IATTC adopted the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica (“Antigua Convention”), bringing to a successful conclusion five years of negotiations. These negotiations were open, from the outset, not only to the parties to the 1949 Convention but also to all those that might become parties to or members of the Commission under the existing Convention or a revised one. Interested intergovernmental organizations and NGOs were also welcome to participate and contribute as observers. Based on the “Chairman’s text” technique, the negotiating process was initially aimed at amending the 1949 Convention in order to bring it in harmony with the principles of international law as reflected in the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea and the provisions of other international instruments such as the 1992 Agenda 21, the 1993 FAO Compliance Agreement, the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement. However, the gap was so great between these instruments and the letter of the 1949 Convention that very little could be preserved from the original text. The institutional continuity of the IATTC is stressed both in the title and the body of the Antigua Convention, but the new instrument has transformed the Commission into a true management organization, in addition to filling a number of gaps and uncertainties. Thus the area covered by the Antigua Convention in the Eastern Pacific is now defined precisely. It is also vast, since it is bounded, on the east, by the coastline from Canada to Chile between the 50 °N and 50 °S parallels and, on the west, by the 150 °W meridian, thus encompassing part of French Polynesia and reaching the waters of Kiribati and Hawaii, United States. The Commission has been institutionally strengthened with the establishment of a Committee for the Review of Implementation of Measures Adopted by the Commission and of a Scientific Advisory Committee. The functions of the Commission have been updated and expanded to enable it to perform its tasks and adopt conservation and management measures, “giving priority to tunas and tuna-like species”. These tasks and measures cover a broad range of areas, such as scientific research, data collection, allowable catch, fishing capacity or effort, new entrants, species belonging to the same ecosystem, waste and discards, gear, allocation, application of the precautionary approach, and implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its international plans of action. Its decisions, which must be adopted by consensus, are binding. In its decision-making processes and other activities, the Commission must promote transparency. Provisions have been included on the settlement of disputes. The rights and obligations of the Commission members concerning implementation, compliance and enforcement have been specified, as have the duties of those members in their character as flag states. In the same spirit of openness that characterized the negotiating process, the condition of “Party” to the Antigua Convention, either through signature followed by ratification or through accession, may be acquired by the Parties to the 1949 Convention, by the coastal states of the region (states with a coastline bordering the Convention area) and by the states and regional economic integration organizations whose vessels fish for fish stocks covered by the Convention. Moreover, and most innovatively, the Antigua Convention makes full use of the concept of fishing entity introduced in the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement to enable Taiwan Province of China to participate fully in the work of the IATTC. To this end, throughout the provisions of the Convention, a distinction is made between two categories: on the one hand, the “members” of the Commission and, on the other, the Parties to the Antigua Convention. The members of the Commission are defined as including the Parties and “any fishing entity” that has expressed its “firm commitment to abide by the terms of the Convention”. This means that states and the regional economic organizations (e.g. the EU), are necessarily both Parties and members while the fishing entity can only be a member. The specific competences of each one of these two categories are also clearly and precisely stipulated (for instance, all members are entitled to take decisions under Article IX, except those decisions related to the adoption of amendments to the Convention, which are the exclusive competence of Parties). The Antigua Convention was opened for signature in Washington on 14 November 2003. By the end of May 2004, 11 states had signed it and the fishing entity had also signed its respective instrument. The Antigua Convention will enter into force once seven of the Parties to the 1949 Convention have deposited their instrument of ratification, approval, acceptance or accession." Source:
FAO "The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2004" |
