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ICNAF Documents and Publications

Link here to access the numerous ICNAF documents and publications.

ICNAF Docs. & Pubs.

ICNAF

First Meeting of ICNAF in 1951

International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF)

 

The International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic (ICNAF) was among the first regional fisheries management body to be established in the world (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.) and was considered to have played a leading role in the assessment and management of fish stocks outside of national jurisdictions.

Despite ICNAF’s lead role and innovations in the formulation of fishery management techniques, an overwhelming expansion of long distance fleets in the 1950s and 1960s had a profound and lasting effect on the fishery resources in the northwest Atlantic. An extensive learning curve in understanding status and effects of exploitation on the fish populations, and limits on controls that could be imposed in international waters, diminished the effectiveness of ICNAF.

See below for more information on ICNAF in the drop down menus. A reference list is available as well.

A pdf is available here (952 kb)

History of ICNAF

History of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries - ICNAF years

Formation of ICNAF – events leading up to the 1949 conference

13 February 2012

Formation of ICNAF – events leading up to the 1949 conference

The first regulatory convention that pertained to the North Atlantic was the 1943 Draft Convention relating to the Policing of Fisheries and Measures for the Protection of Immature Fish (Halliday and Pinhorn 1996, Sen 1997). However, Canada and USA shared doubts that North American interests would be well served by a North Atlantic-wide organization dominated by European states. That convention never came into force in the northwest Atlantic.

International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF)

30 August 2012

International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF)

1949 to 1978

Formation of ICNAF – events leading up to the 1949 conference 

The first regulatory convention that pertained to the North Atlantic was the 1943 Draft Convention relating to the Policing of Fisheries and Measures for the Protection of Immature Fish (Halliday and Pinhorn 1996, Sen 1997). However, Canada and USA shared doubts that North American interests would be well served by a North Atlantic-wide organization dominated by European states. That convention never came into force in the northwest Atlantic.
 

ICNAF Convention

30 August 2012

ICNAF Convention

International Convention for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Commission

The treaty, entered into force on July 3, 1950 to
"investigate, protect and conserve fisheries of the northwest Atlantic Ocean, in order to make possible the maintenance of a maximum sustained catch from those fisheries".
Thus, the concept of sustainable use of fishery resources was introduced.

ICNAF MAPS

30 August 2012

ICNAF MAPS

Additional Information:

ICNAF Handbook. ICNAF Secretariat.1965

The Delimitation of Fishing Areas in the Northwest Atlantic, By R. G. Halliday and A. T. Pinhorn, JNAFS, Vol. 10

The Commission

30 August 2012

The Commission

The decision making body and its committees

The Commission, composed of up to three representatives of each Contracting Party, was responsible for carrying out the tasks laid out in the Convention. The composition of Contracting Parties changed over time as countries became more or less involved in fisheries in the Convention area.

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Contact us

Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
Summit Place
1601 Lower Water Street 
Suite 401
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3J 3P6

Tel: +1 902 468-5590
Email: info@nafo.int