(i) provide clear guidance on the data and information requirements from all fisheries in the Convention Area to support the development of management advice by the Scientific Committee in accordance with both precautionary and the ecosystem approaches to fisheries management;
(ii) design control mechanisms to enable the collection of data and information for scientific analysis and which aim to ensure that fisheries in the Convention Area do not expand faster than the acquisition of information necessary for the development of management advice; and
(iii) streamline the process of annual review and assessment of fisheries by the Scientific Committee and its working groups in the face of the increasing number of fisheries in the Convention Area.
A key component of the framework is a reference document known as a Fishery Plan. Each Plan provides a comprehensive summary of information on a fishery, including the regulatory requirements (i.e. harvest controls, notification requirements, a research and fishery operations plan, and a data collection plan) and fishing activities (e.g. catch and effort).
