IV
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 295
To express the sense of the Congress of the United States that the United
States should actively seek compliance by all countries with the conserva-
tion and management measures for Atlantic bluefin tuna adopted by
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 22, 1994
Mr. STUDDS (for himself, Mr. MANTON, Mr. ANDREWS of Maine, and Mr.
YOUNG of Alaska) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To express the sense of the Congress of the United States
that the United States should actively seek compliance
by all countries with the conservation and management
measures for Atlantic bluefin tuna adopted by the Inter-
national Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas.
Whereas Atlantic bluefin tuna are a valuable commercial and
recreational fishery of the United States;
Whereas many other countries also harvest Atlantic bluefin
tuna in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas the International Commission for the Conservation
of Atlantic Tunas (hereinafter referred to as the Commis-
sion), was established in 1969 to develop conservation
HCON 295 IH
and management recommendations for Atlantic bluefin
tuna and other highly migratory species in the Atlantic
Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas the Commission adopted conservation and manage-
ment recommendations in 1974 to ensure the recovery
and sustainability of Atlantic bluefin tuna throughout the
Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas in 1981, the Commission adopted a management
strategy for Atlantic bluefin tuna predicated on a hypoth-
esis that two stocks of the fish existed: a western stock
found in the Atlantic west of 45 degrees west longitude
(hereinafter referred to as the 45 degree line), and an
eastern stock found in the Atlantic Ocean east of the 45
degree line and in the Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas since 1981, the Commission has adopted additional,
more restrictive conservation and management rec-
ommendations for Atlantic bluefin tuna for countries that
harvest bluefin tuna west of the 45 degree line, including
a 25 percent quota reduction since 1991 with an addi-
tional 40 percent quota reduction scheduled for 1995;
Whereas the United States and other Commission members
that harvest bluefin tuna west of the 45 degree line have
implemented all conservation and management rec-
ommendations adopted by the Commission for Atlantic
bluefin tuna west of the 45 degree line;
Whereas many other Commission members do not comply
with the conservation and management recommendations
adopted by the Commission for Atlantic bluefin tuna east
of the 45 degree line;
Whereas a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) re-
view of the scientific data used by the Commission con-
HCON 295 IH
cluded that the available data supports a one stock man-
agement strategy for bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic;
Whereas the NAS review also found that abundance of Atlan-
tic bluefin tuna in the western Atlantic has remained sta-
ble since 1988, in contrast to the roughly 50 percent de-
cline in abundance reported by the Commission;
Whereas the continued unrestricted harvesting of Atlantic
bluefin tuna east of the 45 degree line and in the Medi-
terranean Sea will undermine the Commission’s rec-
ommendations being implemented west of the line to re-
build Atlantic bluefin tuna; and
Whereas, in order to successfully rebuild the Atlantic bluefin
tuna stock, conservation and management recommenda-
tions must be adopted and implemented throughout the
Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the United States and the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
(hereinafter referred to as the Commission) should
continue to promote the conservation and manage-
ment of Atlantic bluefin tuna throughout the Atlan-
tic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and develop a pro-
gram to rebuild Atlantic bluefin tuna that requires
the participation of all nations that harvest this spe-
cies;
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(2) the United States should ensure that the
scientific findings and recommendations of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences Atlantic bluefin tuna re-
view panel are made available to and included in the
considerations of the Commission’s scientific advi-
sory panel;
(3) the United States should oppose any further
quota reductions for nations harvesting Atlantic
bluefin tuna west of the 45 degree line until the im-
pacts of recent conservation measures can be deter-
mined, and until all nations harvesting Atlantic
bluefin tuna west and east of the 45 degree line
share equally in conservation and rebuilding efforts
for the Atlantic bluefin tuna resources;
(4) the continued harvesting by fishermen from
any country which is a member of the Commission
and which does not comply with the conservation
and management recommendations of the Commis-
sion will be considered by the Congress to diminish
the effectiveness of an international fishery con-
servation program and, as such, will be considered
by the Congress to be subject to the embargo provi-
sion in section 6 of the Atlantic Tunas Convention
Act;
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(5) the United States should encourage other
nations with significant markets for Atlantic bluefin
tuna to prohibit the importation of that species from
harvesting nations which do not comply with the
conservation and management recommendations
adopted by the Commission; and
(6) the United States should encourage the
Commission to adopt recommendations authorizing
the use of discretionary trade actions as enforcement
measures when the actions of a nation are under-
mining the effectiveness of conservation and man-
agement recommendations of the Commission.
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