Pacific and Atlantic Negotiators Prioritize Harvest Strategies, Monitoring, Labour Standards

ICCAT negotiators secured a unanimous agreement among all 55 Parties to add 231 metric tons to the U.S. Atlantic bluefin allocation, a 17 percent increase in baseline quota that will raise total allowable catch beginning in 2026, even as Pacific and Indian Ocean bodies push to turn science-based plans into on-water limits. A PINA policy snapshot dated February 20, 2026 synthesizes four cross-cutting themes for tuna RFMOs this year: harvest strategies, transparency and monitoring, responsible fishing practices, and social responsibility, across ICCAT, WCPFC, IOTC and IATTC.

Harvest strategies moved from paper to near-action in multiple basins. The Global Tuna Alliance notes management procedures are already agreed for stocks such as South Pacific albacore, while members across the RFMOs agreed to move toward adoption in 2026 of a long-term harvest strategy for bigeye tuna. In the eastern Pacific, IATTC members shortened the annual purse-seine closure from 72 days to 64 days effective 2026 after a compromise between a U.S. proposal to keep 72 days and Latin American proposals to reduce to as few as 55 days. Pablo Guerrero, director of marine conservation at WWF Ecuador, said: “They followed the scientific advice, which is important.” Guerrero, who attended the meeting, added: “It was a meeting with little to report in terms of big wins for conservation.”

Monitoring and traceability are front and center. As of December 2024, four tuna RFMOs, IATTC, IOTC, ICCAT and WCPFC, had adopted minimum standards for electronic monitoring. ISSF convened the first EM harmonization workshop 10–12 December 2024 in San Sebastián, Spain, and plans a second EM workshop in 2026 to address implementation. CCSBT, with New Zealand support, is providing capacity development on EM use with emphasis on seabird bycatch mitigation; New Zealand has mandated EM on southern bluefin vessels since 2004. The Global Tuna Alliance frames stronger EM, observer coverage and transshipment controls as measures that will shape audits and due-diligence requirements for suppliers and retailers.

Ecosystem and gear measures are paired with modelling work. GTA pushes timelines for transition to lower-impact and biodegradable FADs with deployment limits and FAD registers. Conservation International, The Pacific Community (SPC) and Mercator Oceans International will extend the SEAPODYM model to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to simulate spatiotemporal dynamics and project climate-driven distribution shifts; SPC’s Pacific analyses previously “showed dramatic shifts eastward in” regional distributions. IATTC partners plan a Management Strategy Evaluation workshop 19–23 January 2026 at FAO headquarters in Rome and a Technical Workshop on Ecosystem Indicators for EAFM in March 2026 in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Social responsibility remains an agenda tension. GTA and industry partners flag labour standards and alignment with ILO 188 as rising priorities even as most RFMOs are not yet prepared to adopt binding labour rules. ISSF placed a cautious optimism on the record, writing: “This progress did not happen by chance. It reflects sustained investment in science, improved international cooperation, and a shared recognition that long-term sustainability is not only an environmental imperative but also a prerequisite for resilient seafood supply chains and coastal communities and fishing livelihoods.” ISSF added that 2026 is pivotal: “The gains we have made must now be implemented and globally extended. Success will depend on whether tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) can continue to make the necessary improvements to transition to fully modern fisheries governance.”

Implementation deadlines and meetings will test whether commitments become enforceable rules: the MSE workshop in Rome, the Nouméa EAFM workshop in March, the second EM workshop planned for 2026, and an upcoming March meeting where Parties agreed to discuss Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico bluefin mixing using genomics and tagging will determine how quickly harvest strategies, EM and labour standards move from negotiation into practice.