Objetives

Considering the priorities stated initially by SCRS, the Steering Committee set as the main objective of the GBYP the improvement of our knowledge and understanding of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) stocks and populations. Aiming at the achievement of this general objective, the following specific objectives were set:

a) Improve basic data collection through data mining developing methods to elaborate these data and to estimate sizes of fish caged, development of fisheries-independent information surveys and implementing a large scale scientific tagging programme.

b) Improve understanding of key biological and ecological processes through electronic tagging experiments to determine habitat and migration routes, broad scale biological sampling of live fish and dead fish landed (e.g. gonads, liver, otoliths, spines, etc.), histological analyses to determine bluefin tuna reproductive state, biological and genetics analyses to investigate mixing and population structure; and ecological processes, including predator-prey relationships;

c) Improve assessment models and provision of scientific advice on stock status through improved modelling of key biological processes (including growth and stock-recruitment), further developing stock assessment models including mixing among areas, and developing and use of biologically realistic operating models for more rigorous management option testing.

Steering Committee
The GBYP Steering Committee has the role to guide and refine the Programme. It is regularly informed and consulted by the Coordinator for all relevant issues and for the Calls for Tenders to be issued. The Steering Committee meets not less than once a year, to verify the activities done, refine the Programme, propose follow-up of the Programme and adopt the budget.
Coordination team

The GBYP coordination team is nowadays composed by the Program Coordinator, an Assistant Coordinator and a Database Specialist. Such team carry out the day to day tasks related to the implementation of the project, including the elaboration of the Calls for different types of contracts, the reports on the different GBYP meetings and the Annual and Executive Reports. The open calls can be downloaded from ICCAT home page (Latest news).

Activities

Along the different phases of the Programme, the Steering Committee has set the following activities:

  • Data mining, data recovery and data elaboration.
  • Aerial surveys.
  • Biological and genetic sampling and analyses.
  • Conventional and electronic tagging.
  • Modelling approaches.

Annual Budget

The GBYP is funded by CPCs and other entities, as Chinese Taipei and ICCAT Secretariat. Among CPCs, EU provides 80% of total budget. The evolution of the total budget along the Programme, by type of activity, has been as follows:


Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7 Phase 8Phase 9Phase 10Phase 11Phase 12
Coordination € 210,000 € 453,000 € 255,000 € 600,245 € 342,000 € 383,000 € 357,985€ 312,500 € 227,000 € 478,000 € 379,000 € 491,000
Data Recovery € 200,000 € 149,000 € 30,000 € 40,250 € 20,000 € 165,000 € 60,000€ 58,000  € 55,000€ 30,000
Aerial Survey € 300,000 € 465,000 € 518,426 € 519,500 € 388,000€ 494,500 € 535,775€ 321,000€ 370,000€ 80,000
Biological Studies € 505,000 € 430,000 € 364,000 € 363,000 € 556,000 € 539,000€ 583,000 € 710,000 € 750,000 € 380,000 € 494,500
Tagging € 40,000 € 890,000 € 1,175,000 € 1,229,979 € 669,500 € 844,000 € 290,000€ 159,000 € 177,500 € 315,000 € 221,000 € 262,500
Modelling € 40,000 € 65,000 € 122,100 € 211,000 € 177,000 € 174,000€ 143,000 € 99,725 € 136,000 € 142,000
TOTAL € 750,000 € 2,502,000 € 1,925,000 € 2,875,000 € 2,125,000 € 2,125,000 € 1,808,985€ 1,750,000€ 1,750,000 € 2,000,000 € 1,600,000 € 1,500,000


For details about contribution from different countries and entities see the annual budget tables.

Data and Publication policy

The publication policy concerning the results obtained by the various researches carried out within this programme must follow the rules included in the contract between the ICCAT and the funders and those rules are mandatory for all the participants to the GBYP. The acceptance of a contract provided by the GBYP will automatically imply the acceptance of the “Publication policy and Editorial rules” here detailed.


  • 1 Ownership of the results of the Programme (GBYP), including industrial and intellectual property rights, and of the reports and other documents relating to it shall be vested by ICCAT.
  • 2 The result of each action carried out within the Programme (GBYP) and all the scientific results obtained by these actions shall be presented to the ICCAT-SCRS at the first opportunity.
  • 3 The scientific results of actions carried out within the Programme (GBYP), after the presentation to the ICCAT/SCRS, can be published, entirely or partly, on the ICCAT Collective Volume of Scientific Papers as well as in other scientific journals. The Authors who wish to publish these results in other scientific journals shall previously require a permit to ICCAT. ICCAT, following the spirit of this scientific programme, encourages the Authors engaged in research action within the Programme (GBYP) to disseminate their results, particularly in peer-reviewed international scientific journals.
  • 4Each report or article concerning the results obtained within the actions of the Programme (GBYP) must include the following sentence: “This work has been carried out under the ICCAT Atlantic-Wide Research Programme for Bluefin Tuna (GBYP), which is funded by the European Union, several ICCAT CPCs, the ICCAT Secretariat, and other entities (see https://www.iccat.int/gbyp/en/overview.asp). The content of this paper does not necessarily reflect ICCAT’s point of view or that of any of the other sponsors, who carry no responsibility. In addition, it does not indicate the Commission's future policy in this area.”
  • 5 All the data collected under the Programme (GBYP) shall be used only for scientific purposes and according to the ICCAT rules. Any other use of these data should be specifically authorised by ICCAT.

© All GBYP reports are property of ICCAT. Any part of the text, figures, graphs or tables can not be reproduced without the prior ICCAT authorization.


Documents
GBYP Reports
Steering Committee Reports
Programme Annual Reports (EU)
Programme Annual Reports (SCRS)
Programme Annual Reports (SCRS-SCI)
Programme External Reviews
Research Mortality Allowance
GBYP Call for tenders
Phase 13
Phase 12
Phase 11
Phase 10
Phase 9
Phase 8
Phase 7
Phase 6
Phase 5
Phase 4
Phase 3
Phase 2
Phase 1
GBYP Meetings
GBYP Meetings
SCRS Meetings
Year Document
2024 SCRS Meeting 2024 Tagging Coordination Working Group
2024 SCRS Meeting 2024 Bluefin Intersessional Apr2024
2022 SCRS Meeting 2022 Eastern Bluefin Stock Assessment
2022 SCRS Meeting 2022 Eastern Bluefin Data Preparatory
2022 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Sep2022
2022 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting May2022
2021 SCRS Meeting 2021 Western Bluefin Stock Assessment
2021 SCRS Meeting 2021 Bluefin Intersessional Sep2021
2021 SCRS Meeting 2021 Bluefin Intersessional Apr2021
2021 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Jul2021
2020 SCRS Meeting 2020 Bluefin Intersessional May2020
2020 SCRS Meeting 2020 Bluefin Intersessional Jul2020
2020 SCRS Meeting 2020 Bluefin Intersessional Dec2020
2020 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Sep2020
2020 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Feb2020
2019 SCRS Meeting 2019 Bluefin Intersessional Feb2019
2019 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Sep2020
2019 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Jul2019
2019 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Feb2019
2018 SCRS Meeting 2018 Bluefin MSE
2018 Bluefin MSE Technical Group Meeting Sep2018
2017 SCRS Meeting 2017 Bluefin Stock Assessment Addendum
2017 SCRS Meeting 2017 Bluefin Stock Assessment
2017 SCRS Meeting 2017 Bluefin Data Preparatory
2016 SCRS Meeting 2016 Bluefin Data Preparatory
2015 SCRS Meeting 2015 Bluefin Data Preparatory
2013 SCRS Meeting 2013 Bluefin Stock Assessment Methods
2013 SCRS Meeting 2013 Bluefin Biological Parameters
2012 SCRS Meeting 2012 Bluefin Stock Assessment
2011 SCRS Meeting 2011 Joint Methods and Bluefin
2010 SCRS Meeting 2010 Stock Assessment
2010 SCRS Meeting 2010 Bluefin Data Preparatory