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Southern Bluefin Tuna Commission
On 20 May 1994 the then existing voluntary management arrangement between Australia, Japan and New Zealand was formalised when the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, which had been signed by the three countries in May 1993, came into force. The Convention created the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT). The CCSBT is headquartered in Canberra, Australia.
For more information on the CCSBT see CCSBT Meeting Schedule and CCSBT Meeting Reports.
Contact
CCSBT Secretariat
PO Box 37
Deakin West
ACT 2600 Australia
email: sec@ccsbt.org
website: www.ccsbt.org
SBT, Thunnus maccoyii, is a valuable, highly migratory species of pelagic fish. SBT ranges widely across the high seas regions of the southern hemisphere but also traverses the exclusive economic zones and territorial seas of countries including Australia and New Zealand.
SBT has a single spawning ground in the waters south of Indonesia (northwest of Australia) between approximately 7 deg and 20 deg S. It is a long-lived species, living up to 40 years or more. It has a lengthy pre-maturity period and virtually life-long exposure to fishing pressure; the stock is slow to recover from depletion relative to other shorter-lived species, including most other species of tuna.
Australian fishers have targeted SBT commercially since the 1950s. The species was initially intended for tuna canneries, but the development of the fresh tuna market in Japan over the past decade, has seen a major shift in the fishing and marketing of SBT.
Most of Australia’s SBT quota is now caught and placed in pens off Port Lincoln, where it is fattened before being sent to Japan. The SBT industry earns an estimated $300 million annually.
The CCSBT was formed in 1994, following a decade of informal management of SBT by Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Its objective is to ensure the conservation and optimum utilisation of the SBT stock.
In the decades up to the end of the 1980s, high levels of fishing for SBT caused serious depletion of the adult SBT stock. Scientific studies suggest that stock levels may now be less than 10% of the 1960 level, when substantial fishing had already occurred.
In 1989, the CCSBT set the following annual national allocations:
- Japan 6,065 tonnes
- Australia 5,265 tonnes
- New Zealand 420 tonnes.
In recent years:
- Republic of Korea 1,140 tonnes
- Fishing Entity of Taiwan 1,140 tonnes
Fishing by countries outside the CCSBT continues to be detrimental to the stock conservation measures undertaken by CCSBT members, but efforts are continuing to bring non-member catches under the management of the CCSBT.
Other countries, which have expressed an interest in participating in the CCSBT, are Indonesia and South Africa.
Australia’s long-term goal within the CCSBT is to develop policies to help restore the SBT spawning biomass.
The CCSBT is currently developing a management procedure to help effectively manage the global SBT stock, which is actively supported by Australia. Australia is also strong supporter of the CCSBT’s Scientific Research Program and has committed AUD$3 million over three years.
The CCSBT holds an annual meeting hosted by each member in turn, as well as several working group and committee meetings each year.