This Resolution of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) underlines the need to establish conservation measures for the protection of sharks, especially the silky shark due to the fact that they are the shark species most commonly caught as bycatch by purse-seine vessels in the Convention Area. Therefore, this Resolution lays down conservation measures including improvement of data collection for assessing indicators of silky shark stocks; prohibiting CPCs to retain on board, transship, land, or store, in part or whole, carcasses of silky sharks caught by purse-seine vessels in the IATTC Convention Area; and limiting bycatch of silky sharks to a maximum of 20% of the total catch by fishing trip in weight for all longline vessels whose fishing licenses do not include sharks as a fishing target. This Resolution shall not apply to vessels of less than 12 m length overall using manually operated fishing gear (i.e. without mechanical or hydraulic winches) and that do not deliver to motherships at any time during the fishing trip.
2021-10-18