(1)

On 13 May 2013, the Council authorised the European Commission to open negotiations on amendments to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (1) (the ICCAT). These negotiations were successfully concluded in November 2018.

(2)

The resulting Protocol to amend the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (‘the Protocol’) is expected to improve the effectiveness of the ICCAT and strengthen the conservation and management of species under its purview.

(3)

Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) provides that the Union is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long-term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. It also provides that the Union is to apply the precautionary approach to fisheries management, and is to aim to ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains population of harvested species above levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. It further provides that the Union is to take management and conservation measures based on the best available scientific advice, to support the development of scientific knowledge and advice, to gradually eliminate discards and to promote fishing methods that contribute to more selective fishing and the avoidance and reduction, as far as possible, of unwanted catches, to fishing with low impact on the marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Moreover, Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 specifically provides that those objectives and principles are to be applied by the Union in the conduct of its external fisheries relations. The Protocol is consistent with those objectives.

(4)

As stated in the Joint Communication by the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy entitled ‘International ocean governance: an agenda for the future of oceans’, and the Council conclusions on that Joint Communication, the promotion of measures to support and enhance the effectiveness of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) and, where relevant, improve their governance is central to the Union’s action in these fora. The Protocol is fully in line with those aims.

(5)

The Protocol should be signed on behalf of the Union.

(6)

If the Protocol enters into force for other contracting parties before the Union has completed its internal ratification procedures, it should be applied on a provisional basis by the Union as from that entry into force, pending the completion of the procedures necessary for its entry into force for the Union,