By Council Decision 2006/539/EC1, the Union concluded the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica (‘Antigua Convention’)2, which established the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

The IATTC is responsible for the management and conservation of the fishery resources of the Antigua Convention area. The IATTC adopts conservation and management measures to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the fish stocks covered by that Convention. Such measures may become binding upon the Union.

By Council Decision 2005/938/EC3, the Union approved the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (AIDCP)4, which established the Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP. Article XIV of the Antigua Convention provides for the IATTC to have an integral role in coordinating the implementation of the AIDCP and implementing the measures that are adopted within the framework of the AIDCP. The Secretariat of the AIDCP is provided by the IATTC.

The Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP is the body established by the AIDCP to promote the progressive reduction of incidental dolphin mortalities in the tuna purse-seine fishery in the Antigua Convention area to levels approaching zero. The Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP adopts decisions to ensure the long term sustainability of marine biological resources associated with the purse-seine tuna fishery in the Antigua Convention area. Such measures may become binding upon the Union.

Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council5 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 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 marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Furthermore, 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.

As stated in the Joint communication by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission ‘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 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the European Economic and Social Committee and to the Committee of the Regions ‘European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’, refers to specific measures to reduce plastics and marine pollution as well as the loss or abandonment at sea of fishing gear.

It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union's behalf in the meetings of the IATTC and the Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP for the period 2019-2023, as the IATTC conservation and enforcement measures and the decisions of the Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP will be binding on the Union and capable of decisively influencing the content of Union law, namely, Council Regulations (EC) No 1005/20086, (EC) No 1224/20097, and Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council8.

Currently, the position to be taken on the Union's behalf in the meetings of the IATTC is established by the Council Decision of 12 June 2014 on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the Union, in the IATTC. It is appropriate to repeal that Decision and to replace it by a new Decision which would cover the period 2019-2023.

In view of the evolving nature of fishery resources in the Antigua Convention area and the consequent need for the position of the Union to take account of new developments, including new scientific and other relevant information presented before or during the meetings of the IATTC and the Meeting of the Parties to the AIDCP, procedures should be established, in line with the principle of sincere cooperation among the Union institutions enshrined in Article 13(2) of the Treaty on European Union, for the year-to-year specification of the Union's position for the period 2019-2023,