There is an immediate and strategic need for the CCSBT to agree to an MP to guide the global catch setting to ensure the rebuilding of the SBT stock. For this to occur, an MP needs to be developed and agreed by the CCSBT; failure to do so will result in the global catch of SBT being reduced to 5000-6000 t, with a subsequent significant impact on the Australian SBT fishery. Australia in collaboration with Japanese and other CCSBT member scientists are responsible for the development and evaluation of the MP, which in the context of a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO), such as CCSBT, is a unique and innovative concept that will establish a rebuilding pathway for the stock. Having a rebuilding strategy that has been rigorously and openly tested, is robust to the key fishery-specific issues and uncertainties, and establishes a process whereby decisions will be made and enforced will be a first in the tuna RFMO milieu.

As an effective recovery plan for SBT can only exist at the international level (given the shared nature of the resource) the development and adoption of the MP work can also be interpreted as a direct requirement of the current conservation dependent status of the stock. It is therefore essential to complete the MP development work for adoption by the Commission in 2011.