PRETOMA refused attendance at important Inter-American Tuna meeting
The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) announced yesterday that PRETOMA could no longer participate as an observing organization during the next IATTC annual meeting, to be held in the Canary Islands from June 13-24, 2005. The denial stems from objections to PRETOMA’s attendance by the governments of El Salvador and Mexico. PRETOMA had originally received an invitation to the IATTC meeting at which shark finning and shark conservation in the eastern Pacific will be discussed.
The IATTC, established by international convention in 1950, is responsible for the conservation and management of fisheries for tunas and other species taken by fishing vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Given that the IATTC is the largest fisheries management organization for the eastern Pacific, it represents one of the few avenues for promoting responsible industrial fishing operations at a regional level.