From November 14 to 21, 2022, the 23rd Annual Special Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) took place in Vale do Lobo, Algarve, Portugal, which is an organization that regulates around 30 species of tuna and the like, in all waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including adjacent seas.

At this meeting, which was subject to restrictions on the number of participants physically present at the meeting, around 400 delegates from 43 Contracting Parties (PC), entities with the status of cooperators and Non-Governmental Organizations, attended the meeting in person. The European Union (EU) had a delegation that included representatives of the Administrations, the Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations, with the status of observers.

At this year's meeting, special attention was given to tropical tunas, namely bigeye tuna, of strategic interest to the artisanal pole-and-line fleets of the AR. Madeira and the R.A. Azores. The proposals under discussion sought a significant change from the current Recommendation, taking into account the opinion of the ICCAT Scientific Committee, which presented an improvement of this stock. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach a consensus on the TAC to be adopted for bigeye tuna, so a plenary meeting decided to rollover the 2022 measures, with the TAC for 2023 of 62,000 tons and the TAC for 2024 and future years to be defined in the interim meetings, already scheduled for this panel, which will take place in March and June 2023, in accordance with scientific advice for this stock.

As for Bluefin Tuna (BFT), a Management Strategy Assessment (MSE) was adopted, establishing a TAC of 40,570 tonnes and an EU quota of 21,503 tonnes.

Finally, regarding the Atlantic Swordfish, the North stock (SWO-N) will have the same TAC for 2023 as for 2022 – 13,200 tons. As for the South stock (SWO-S), which is overfished and subject to overfishing, the TAC was reduced by 30%, remaining at 10,000 tons, which will give an EU quota of 4,824 tons. However, the Commission, in order to respond to the concern of the Member States about this decrease, considered that there was no need to change the allocation key, due to the Union fleet maintaining the level of these reduced catches, so Portugal will maintain the same quota as in 2022 .

Finally, we highlight the adoption of the European Union Proposal, which was praised by all ICCAT Contracting Parties, for the application in 2 years, 2023 and 2024, of a Reconstruction Plan for the South Atlantic Shortfin Shortfin Shark, captured as an accessory in fisheries carried out in the South Atlantic.

The table below shows the Union's TACs and quotas approved at this annual meeting for 2023 compared to the 2022 TACs and quotas: