CITES Calendar

Meeting summary 

The nineteenth special meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was held in Genoa, Italy from 10 to 17 November 2014. The meeting was opened by Mr. S. Depypere, Commission Chair. The discussion on the assessments that have been carried out for, and/or the need of fishing possibilities to be allocated, was mainly focused on species like Skipjack tuna, Bluefin tuna, swordfish, shark species and billfish.

The CITES Secretariat attended the meeting with a consultant. It introduced document Doc. No. PA4-808A/2014 on ‘A role for ICCAT in CITES implementation?’ in Panel 4. The purpose was to provide information to ICCAT about the entry into effect of the inclusion of five species of sharks and all manta rays in Appendix II of CITES, including the requirements arising from the implementation of these new listings and the role that ICCAT could consider in this regard. The Secretariat addressed a series of ensuing questions from, amongst others, Japan, Turkey, Mexico and Canada.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the CITES Secretariat discussed with a large number of countries, IGOs, NGOs, experts and other stakeholders. This successfully resulted in collaborative initiatives between the ICCAT Secretariat and CITES on implementing the shark listings, the promotion of relevant identification materials, discussions about the compatibility between CITES and the Port State Measures Agreement, etc.