"1. The Commission shall establish and maintain an IOTC Record of fishing vessels that are:

1. larger than 24 metres in length overall, or
2. in case of vessels less than 24m, those operating in waters outside the economic exclusive zone of the flag state,

and that are authorised to fish for tuna and tuna-like species in the IOTC Area (hereinafter referred to as „authorized fishing vessels‟, or AFVs). For the purpose of this Resolution, AFVs that are not entered into the Record are deemed not to be authorised to fish for, retain on board, tranship or land tuna and tuna-like species.."
(IOTC resolution 07/02, adopted in 2007).

In accordance with this resolution, the IOTC has implemented this online application that allows users to search and consult the register of authorised vessels.
The register holds data about the identification, technical characteristics, ownership and authorisations of the vessels, as stipulated in Resolution 07/02:

"2. Each Contracting Party, and Cooperating non-Contracting Party (hereinafter referred to as "CPCs") shall submit electronically, where possible, to the Secretary by 1 July 2003 for those vessels referred to 1.a) and 1 July 2006 for those vessels referred to 1.b), the list of its AFVs that are authorised to operate in the IOTC Area. This list shall include the following information:

• Name of vessel(s), register number(s);
• MO number if available
• Previous name(s) (if any);
• Previous flag(s) (if any);
• Previous details of deletion from other registries (if any);
• International radio call sign(s) (if any);
• Operating port
• Type of vessel(s), length and gross tonnage (GT);
• Name and address of owner(s) and operator(s);
• Gear(s) used;
• Time period(s) authorised for fishing and/or transhipping.

CPCs shall indicate, when initially submitting their list of vessels according to this paragraph, which vessels are newly added or meant to replace vessels currently on their list submitted to IOTC pursuant to the Resolution 01/02 Relating to Control of Fishing Activities.
The initial IOTC record shall consist of all the lists submitted under this paragraph."


For any inquiry, comments or data submission, send us an email at authorised.vessels@iotc.org