•HCON 229 IH 
ance with such quotas by parties to the Convention that 
harvest that stock has been very poor, most recently with 
harvests exceeding such total allowable catch levels by 
over 50 percent for each of the last 4 years; 
Whereas poor data reporting has frequently thwarted efforts 
by the Commission to assign quota overharvests to spe-
cific countries; 
Whereas many Commission members fishing east of 45 de-
gree west longitude do not comply with other Commission 
recommendations to control Eastern Atlantic and Medi-
terranean bluefin tuna fisheries and conserve this over-
fished resource and, more generally, lack of compliance 
with Commission recommendations is an ongoing prob-
lem; 
Whereas the Commission’s Standing Committee on Research 
and Statistics (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘SCRS’’) noted 
in its 2006 report that the fishing mortality rate for the 
Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock may be more 
than three times the level that would permit the stock to 
stabilize at the maximum sustainable catch level, and 
continuing to fish at the level of recent years ‘‘is expected 
to drive the spawning biomass to a very low level’’ giving 
‘‘rise to a high risk of fishery and stock collapse’’; 
Whereas the SCRS has recommended that the annual harvest 
levels for Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin 
tuna be reduced from 32,000 metric tons to approxi-
mately 15,000 metric tons to halt decline of the resource 
and initiate recovery; 
Whereas, in 2006, the Commission adopted the ‘‘Rec-
ommendation by ICCAT to Establish a Multi-Annual Re-
covery Plan for Bluefin Tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and 
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•HCON 229 IH 
Mediterranean’’ (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Recovery 
Plan’’) containing a wide range of management and mon-
itoring and control measures designed to facilitate the re-
covery of the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin 
tuna stock; 
Whereas the Recovery Plan is inadequate and allows over-
fishing and stock decline to continue; 
Whereas, since 1981, the Commission has adopted additional 
and more restrictive conservation and management rec-
ommendations for the western Atlantic bluefin tuna 
stock, and these recommendations have been imple-
mented by nations fishing west of 45 degree west lon-
gitude; 
Whereas, despite adoption and full implementation of a 
science-based rebuilding program for the western Atlantic 
bluefin tuna stock by countries fishing west of 45 degree 
west longitude, catches and catch rates remain very low; 
and 
Whereas poor management and compliance with rec-
ommendations for the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterra-
nean stock are of grave concern because the condition of 
the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock could ad-
versely affect recovery of the western Atlantic bluefin 
tuna due to mixing between the two stocks: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the 
United States, through the International Commission for 
the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (hereinafter in this 
concurrent resolution the ‘‘Commission’’), should— 
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•HCON 229 IH 
(1) pursue a review and assessment of compli-
ance with conservation and management measures 
adopted by the Commission and in effect for the 
2006 Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin 
tuna fishery, occuring east of 45 degree west lon-
gitude, and other fisheries that are subject to the ju-
risdiction of the Commission, including data collec-
tion and reporting requirements; 
(2) seek to address noncompliance by nations 
with such measures through appropriate actions, in-
cluding, as appropriate, deducting a proportion of a 
future quota for a country to compensate for such 
country exceeding its quota in prior years; 
(3) pursue a meaningful discussion of the im-
plementation and effectiveness of the Commission 
recomendation entitled ‘‘Recommendation by ICCAT 
to Establish a Multi-Annual Recovery Plan for 
Bluefin Tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterra-
nean’’ (Recommendation 06–05), including seeking 
detailed explanations from Commission members 
that have failed to fully implement the terms of the 
recommendation; and 
(4) seek to strengthen the conservation and 
management of the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterra-
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•HCON 229 IH 
nean bluefin tuna by making recommendations to 
halt the decline of the stock and begin to rebuild it. 
Æ 
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