Somalia has objected to recent proposals from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) on the conservation and management of tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean, including total allowable catch (TAC) determinations for 2027 and 2028.
Earlier this year, the IOTC approved a 436,867-ton TAC for yellowfin tuna for the two-year period, curbing Somalia's share to 5,000 metric tons (MT), which is equivalent to 1.14 percent of the total allocation.
The regional fishery management organization said the TAC determination was based on a 2024 stock assessment, which found that despite yellowfin not being overfished and not subject to overfishing, catch totals for that year “exceeded the estimated maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and that sustained catches above MSY are projected to reduce spawning biomass over time.”
IOTC further explained its TAC determination is meant to address the uncertainties identified in the yellowfin tuna stock assessment, including recruitment assumptions and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) standardization issues while establishing an interim catch limit that ensures sustainability and preserves flexibility for future allocation decisions.
In response, Abdi Dirshe, the head of Somalia's delegation to the IOTC and the director general at Somalia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy, said the resolution is not based on any scientific evidence, countering that the evidence in Somalia's possession shows the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is the richest yellowfin tuna fishing ground in the Indian Ocean.
Dirshe said the 5,000-MT allocation has "no relationship to any [specified] EEZ yellowfin tuna MSY estimations; hence, it is unscientific and outside the IOTC Agreement provisions."
"The resolution goes against Somalia's sovereign rights and obligations [under the] United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and is a threat to our artisanal fishers rights who are already harvesting higher volumes than this allocation, endangering their livelihoods,” he said.
Somalia is also objecting to the IOTC’s decision to limit the TAC for swordfish at 30,527 tons annually for the two-year period. Under that decision, except for Sri Lanka, the E.U., Indonesia, China, India, and Iran – each of which have a different and higher binding TAC – any other IOTC member, including Somalia, should not exceed 1,500 MT of swordfish on average over any two consecutive years from 2025 onward.
“If any [contracting parties] exceeds its catch limit for two consecutive years, the respective CPC’s catch limit during or before the corresponding adjustment year shall be reduced by 125 percent of the overage, and the commission may recommend additional measures, as appropriate,” it said.
Dirshe retorted that previous Somalia swordfish estimates should not be used as the basis for future allocations, as they were based “on limited sampling, while expanded national coverage and catch reconstruction may produce substantially higher figures.”
“Improved reporting must be treated as a correction of historical underreporting and not as a new fishing expansion or basis for prematurely restricting Somalia's future participation,” he said.
Elsewhere, Somalia has objected to a provision in the resolution penalizing any of the IOTC’s 20 CPCs for objecting to the TAC allocations, including barring objectors from concluding, extending, or renewing chartering agreements, saying this provision "imposes disproportionate consequences on the development of coastal states and discourages lawful exercise of the right to objection of unfavorable IOTC decisions."
IOTC has put enforcement of these measures on hold until 18 November, "unless a total of more than one-third of the members also object before this time.”
