Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)

About Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

• It is an intergovernmental organisation mandated to sustainably manage highly migratory (tuna and tuna-like) fisheries resources in the Indian Ocean.
• The Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations at the 105th Session in Rome on 25 November 1993. 
• The objective of the IOTC is to promote cooperation amongst contracting members to ensure through appropriate management, the sustainable use of fishery resources.
• The Indian Ocean is the second largest tuna fishery in the world.
• The IOTC currently has 31 contracting parties who are members of the IOTC and two Cooperating non-Contracting Parties, Liberia and Senegal.
• Membership of the IOTC is open to:
  • Indian Ocean coastal countries
  • countries, or regional economic integration organisations, that are members of the UN
  • countries that are members of UN special organizations
  • countries that fish for tuna in the Indian Ocean
• India is a member of this organization.
• Headquarters: Victoria, Seychelle

Q1) What is Tuna fish?

Tunas are elongated, robust, and streamlined fishes; they have a rounded body that tapers to a slender tail base and a forked or crescent-shaped tail. They are related to mackerels and are placed with them in the family Scombridae 

Source: 19th Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission inaugurates today at Mumbai