Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (abbreviated IATTC) (Sp.: Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical) is an international commission that is responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and other marine resources in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission was created by the Convention for the Establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, signed between the United States and Costa Rica on May 31, 1949. The Convention was signed by United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Costa Rica's Ambassador to the United States, Mario Echandi Jiménez.

A number of additional countries later joined the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. Each country is represented by up to four Commissioners.

In 2003, the members of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission signed the Antigua Convention, which strengthened the Commission's powers. Most members of the Commission ratified the Antigua Convention between 2004 and 2009, but as of 2011, the U.S. had not ratified the Antigua Convention.

The headquarters of the IATTC are located in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States.

An asterisk indicates that the state has ratified the Convention on the Establishment of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention.

The IATTC also has significant responsibilities for the implementation of the International Dolphin Conservation Program (IDCP), and provides the Secretariat for that program.

The first objective of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP) is to reduce incidental dolphin mortalities in the purse-seine fishery in the eastern Pacific Ocean to levels approaching zero. This Agreement and its predecessor, the 1992 La Jolla Agreement, have been spectacularly successful in meeting this objective, as shown by the reduction in mortality of dolphins incidental to fishing.

During 2013 95.4% of all sets made on tuna associated with dolphins were accomplished with no mortality or serious injury to the dolphins. Furthermore, the total mortality of dolphins in the fishery has been reduced from about 132,000 in 1986 to about 800 in 2013.

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