SIOFA

The Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) is the RFMO for non-tuna fishery resources in the high seas of the southern Indian Ocean, with a convention in force since 2012. It manages deep-sea and demersal stocks on seamounts and ridges, including Patagonian and other toothfish, orange roughy, alfonsino, and deep-sea crabs, mostly taken by bottom trawl and longline. SIOFA sets conservation and management measures for bottom fishing that require encounter and move-on rules to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems, in line with the UN General Assembly deep-sea bottom-fishing resolutions.