The Pew Charitable Trusts has issued a call to action for the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) organization's annual meeting approaches.

According to Pew, this year's discussions, which will take place from Nov. 11 to 18 in Limassol, Cyprus, will provide ICCAT's 52 members an opportunity to adopt a science-based management procedure for North Atlantic swordfish.

Once on the brink of collapse due to years of mismanagement, the North Atlantic swordfish population has been restored over the last two decades, stabilizing a stock valued at an estimated $10 million annually to fisheries in Canada and the US.

Yet, with mounting climate pressures, Pew stresses that further protective measures are essential. By enacting a science-driven, precautionary management strategy, ICCAT members could safeguard the species long-term and set an international precedent for climate-responsive fisheries management, Pew wrote.

Additionally, according to Esther Wozniak, a Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries project manager, ICCAT should also adopt a proposed climate change action plan.

She stressed this plan emphasizes expanding management strategy evaluation (MSE) methods for more species to help fisheries managers make decisions grounded in current scientific data, particularly in light of climate change impacts. Key steps include enhancing technical MSE expertise, increasing resources, and adding more species --like Atlantic blue sharks, South Atlantic swordfish, and albacore tuna-- to ICCAT’s harvest strategies roadmap.

MSE-based approaches represent the future of sustainable fisheries management, and ICCAT is urged to begin with a new management procedure (MP) for North Atlantic swordfish this month, according to Wozniak.

Meanwhile, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) urged ICCAT to adopt a new recommendation for conserving and managing tropical tuna, focusing on sustaining bigeye and yellowfin stocks at sustainable levels.

To achieve this, ISSF emphasizes the need for stricter management measures to reduce yellowfin catch levels. The proposed measure includes entirely allocating the total allowable catch (TAC) among Contracting Parties and Cooperating non-Contracting Parties (CPCs), particularly for yellowfin.

Additionally, ISSF recommends maintaining the current TAC for the Mediterranean albacore.