14. CCMs shall report to Executive Director by 15 June annually measures they used to implement paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 17 of this CMM. CCMs shall also monitor the international trade of the products derived from Pacific bluefin tuna and report the results to Executive Director by 15 June annually. The Northern Committee shall annually review those reports CCMs submit pursuant to this paragraph and if necessary, advise a CCM to take an action for enhancing its compliance with this CMM.
2. CCMs shall take measures necessary to ensure that total fishing effort by their vessel fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna in the area north of the 20° N shall stay below the 2002–2004 annual average levels.
3. Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei shall, respectively, take measures necessary to ensure that its catches of Pacific bluefin tuna less than 30 kg and Pacific bluefin tuna 30 kg or larger shall not exceed the annual catch limits in the tables below, without prejudice to future agreement on allocation of TAC.
Pacific bluefin tuna less than 30kg
2002-2004 average annual level Annual initial catch limit
Japan 8,015 metric tons 4,007 metric tons
Korea 1,435 metric tons 718 metric tons
Pacific bluefin tuna 30kg or larger
2002-2004 average annual level Annual initial catch limit
Japan 4,882 metric tons 8,412 metric tons
Korea 0 metric tons 501 metric tons
Chinese Taipei 1,709 metric tons 2,947 metric tons
4. CCMs with a base line catch (2002-2004 average annual level) of 10 tons or less of Pacific bluefin tuna 30 kg or larger may increase their catch as long as it does not exceed 10 metric tons per year. The catch limit of Pacific bluefin tuna 30 kg or larger for New Zealand shall be 200 metric tonnes per year and for Australia 40 metric tonnes per year, taking into account their nature as bycatch fisheries conducted in their waters in the Southern hemisphere.*
*footnote 1: New Zealand and Australia may carry forward up to 35 tonnes per year and 10 tonnes per year, respectively, from 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 to 2023 and 2024. This special arrangement does not create any precedent in future management.
5. Any overage or underage of the catch limit shall be deducted from or may be added to the catch limit for the following year. The maximum underage that a CCM may carry over in any given year shall not exceed 17% of its annual initial catch limit.
7. CCMs are encouraged to conduct research activities to collect reliable indices of recruitment stock and adult spawning stock. Notwithstanding paragraph 3 and 4, setting a catch limit dedicated for research activities to develop and maintain indices may be considered by WCPFC through the Northern Committee based on research plans reviewed and supported by the ISC.
8. All CCMs except Japan shall implement the limits in paragraph 3 on a calendar-year basis. Japan shall implement the limits using a management year other than the calendar year for some of its fisheries and have its implementation assessed with respect to its management year. To facilitate the assessment, Japan shall
a. Use the following management years
1) For its fisheries licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, use the calendar year as the management year.
2) For its other fisheries, use 1 April – 31 March as the management year.*
b. In its annual reports for PBF, for each category described in a.1 and a.2 above, complete the required reporting template for both the management year and calendar year clearly identifying fisheries for each management year.
*footnote 3 For the category described a.2 of paragraph 7, the TCC shall assess in year 20XX its implementation during the management year that starts 1 April 20XX-1 (e.g., in the 2020 compliance review, the TCC will assess Japan’s implementation for its fisheries licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries during calendar-year 2019 and for its other fisheries during 1 April 2019 through 31 March 2020).
9. CCMs shall report to the Executive Director by 15 June each year their fishing effort and less than 30 kg and greater than or equal to 30 kg catch levels, by fishery, for the previous 3 years, accounting for all catches, including discards. CCMs shall report their annual catch limits and their annual catches of PBF, with adequate computation details, to present their implementation for paragraph 5 and 6, if the measures and arrangements in the said paragraphs and relevant footnotes applied. The Executive Director will compile this information each year into an appropriate format for the use of the Northern Committee.
10. CCMs shall intensify cooperation for effective implementation of this CMM, including juvenile catch reduction. For this purpose, CCMs will make every effort to prevent their catch of age-0 fish (less than 2kg) from increasing beyond their 50% of 2002-2004 levels.
11. CCMs, in particular those catching juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna, shall take measures to monitor and obtain prompt results of recruitment of juveniles each year.
12. Consistent with their rights and obligations under international law, and in accordance with domestic laws and regulations, CCMs shall, to the extent possible, take measures necessary to prevent commercial transaction of Pacific bluefin tuna and its products that undermine the effectiveness of this CMM, especially measures prescribed in the paragraph 3 above. CCMs shall cooperate for this purpose.
14. CCMs shall also take measures necessary to strengthen monitoring and data collecting system for Pacific bluefin tuna fisheries and farming in order to improve the data quality and timeliness of all the data reporting.
17. To enhance effectiveness of this measure, CCMs are encouraged to communicate with and work with the concerned IATTC contracting parties through the Joint IATTC and WCPFC-NC Working Group on the Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna or bilaterally.