Approximately six million tons of tunas and tuna-like species are captured every year for human consumption. These fisheries are highly complex in nature with multiple target species and fishing gears (e.g. purse seine, longline, pole and line). As such there are several issues that scientists, policy makers and stakeholders are faced with: catches of juvenile target species, bycatch, impacts of FADs, overcapacity, interactions between fisheries, etc.

The symposium is convened to present the most recent findings and provide a platform to exchange ideas and investigate optimal approaches to mitigate impacts and ensure sustainability of tuna fisheries. We welcome participation from scientists, stakeholders and policy makers from all oceans.

The selected contributions have been distributed among seven thematic sessions:

•         Biodiversity and bycatch

•     Fish associated with FADs: biology and behavior

•          Biology and ecology of pelagic sharks

•     Fishery impacts
  

•     Time-area closures to mitigate bycatch
  

•          Mitigation techniques in longline fisheries

•         Mitigation techniques in purse seine fisheries

The call for abstracts was very successful. Around 70 oral presentations of results from novel research as well as recently published findings, updated reviews and syntheses, practical approaches to mitigation and management considerations have been accepted. The oral presentations will be around 15 minutes in order to leave 5 minutes for discussion.

Five keynote speeches will open the conference and the different sessions.

The detailed programme is available in the main menu (left column).

Please register in the meantime to book your seat.

See you soon in Montpellier!

"How can scientists and stakeholders work together to foster the development of methods and tools to monitor and reduce the ecological impacts of purse seine fishing?"

Following the symposium, ISSF will host a workshop where skippers and scientists can interact and discuss bycatch reduction methods in the tuna purse seine floating object fishery: see the ISSF workshop programme.

Please register to the workshop separately by sending an email to Shira Worley: sworley@iss-foundation.org

Both the symposium and skippers' workshop will be held at the Aquarium Mare Nostrum in Montpellier, located in the South of France.

• The EU funded MADE project, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), under grant agreement n° 210496, www.made-project.eu
• The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, www.iss-foundation.org
• The French Region Languedoc-Roussillon www.laregion.fr
  
• The Institute of Research for Development ,IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, www.ird.fr