Evaluating Compliance and Enforcement Mechanisms of Regional Fishery Management Organizations

Established by international agreements or treaties, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) manage fisheries on the high seas, or ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction. Countries interested in joining an RFMO for access to highly migratory species such as tuna are subject to legally binding conservation management measures (CMMs) and convention mandates created by the organization. Historically, the overall effectiveness of RFMOs for protecting valuable high seas fisheries and their ecosystems has been called into question and there has been a recent push from consumers for increased seafood traceability. This project critically evaluates compliance and enforcement of CMMs and is a component of a larger comprehensive performance review of the current seventeen global RFMOs by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Duke, NYU, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre led by Duke Marine Lab PhD student Gabrielle Carmine. In this evaluation, RFMOs were scored using a set of ten different criteria to assess existing compliance mechanisms and understand existing levels of transparency within high seas fisheries management.