International Tuna Management Revisited

Abstract

Ten years ago international arrangements for the scientific study and management of tuna were reviewed in a predecessor to this volume (Joseph, 1972). The main thrust of that contribution was to stress the necessity for international cooperation on a global basis to insure rational future utilization of tuna resources. The need for international cooperation was emphasized because of the highly migratory nature of the numerous tuna and tuna-like species, the mobility of the fleets that harvest these species, and the international character of the tuna processing and marketing system.

James Joseph has engaged in tuna research since 1958, and for the last ten years has served as Director of Investigations for the IATTC, an international fishery commission with headquarters in LaJolla, California. Concurrent with that position, he holds appointments as Affiliate Professor of the University of Washington and as Research Associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He is the author of many publications on the biology and management of tuna and billfish resources and has recently coauthored a book entitled “International Management of Tuna, Porpoise, and Billfish-Biological, Legal, and Political Aspects.”