The objective of the Commission is to promote the effective conservation, management and development of the living marine resources of the area, iaw the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and address common problems of fisheries management and development faced by its members. The members are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, European Union, France, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent/Grenadines, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, US, and Venezuela.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, established in 2004 by the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. Members: Australia, China, Canada, Cook Is, EU, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, France, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Tuvalu, US, and Vanuatu.

The South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO) is an intergovernmental fisheries science and management body. Its primary purpose is to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of all living marine resources in the South East Atlantic Ocean, and to safeguard the environment and marine ecosystems in which the resources occur. The Convention excludes the EEZ’s of the coastal states. The contracting parties are Angola, the EU, Japan, Republic of Korea, Namibia, Norway and South Africa.

In 1976, a Conference of Plenipotentiaries representing sixteen Mediterranean coastal States and the European Communities adopted the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution (Barcelona Convention). This included the “Regional Oil Combating Centre” (ROCC) with the mandate to strengthen the capacities of coastal States in the Mediterranean region. It also facilitates cooperation among those States to combat massive marine pollution by oil, particularly by developing national capacities to combat oil pollution and by establishing a regional information system with a view to dealing with marine pollution emergencies. In 1989, the name of the Centre was changed to the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC). The International Maritime Organization (IMO), in cooperation with UNEP/MAP, administers REMPEC.

The purpose of the Committee is to promote the sustainable utilization of the living marine resources within its area of competence by the proper management and development of the fisheries and fishing operations. Established in 1967, its members are Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, the Democratic Rep. of the Congo, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, European Union, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Liberia, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Togo, and the United States of America.

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) is a regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) established under the provisions of Article XIV of the FAO Constitution. The main objective of the GFCM is to ensure the conservation and the sustainable use, at the biological, social, economic and environmental level, of living marine resources as well as the sustainable development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea (GFCM area of application). The GFCM is currently composed of 24 members (23 member countries and the European Union) who contribute to its autonomous budget to finance its functioning and 5 Cooperating non Contracting Parties (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Jordan, Moldova and Ukraine).

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the FAO supports all efforts to promote Blue Growth - with its emphasis on reconciling social and economic development with environmental performance - to all fisheries and aquaculture policies. It promotes and supports the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, in addition to providing scientific advice, strategic planning, and training materials. It serves as a neutral forum to discuss issues related to international cooperation and multistakeholder approaches. The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) used by the FAO is the appropriate and practical way to implement the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

The objective of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) is to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna and tuna-like species and other species of fish taken by vessels fishing for tunas and tuna like species in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Members are Belize, Canada, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador El Salvador, the European Union, France, Guatemala, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Chinese Taipei, US, Vanuatu and Venezuela. Bolivia, Honduras, Indonesia, Liberia are Cooperating Non Members.

ICCAT is an intergovernmental organization for the management and conservation of tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The organisation was established in 1966, at a conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and operates in English, French and Spanish. ICCAT has 53 members and 5 ‘Cooperators’. ICCAT carries out studies on biometry, fisheries ecology and oceanography, focusing on the effects of fishing on tuna stock abundance. They collect and analyse fisheries statistics required for the management of resources. Based on scientific and other information, such as fishery statistics and stock assessments provided by members, each year the Commission decides on conservation and management measures aimed at maintaining target stocks at levels that permit the maximum sustainable catch for food.

NAFO is an intergovernmental fisheries science and management body, which was founded in 1979 as a successor to the International Commission of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (1949-1978). The NAFO Convention on Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries applies to most fishery resources of the Northwest Atlantic except salmon, tunas/marlins, whales, and sedentary species (e.g. shellfish). NAFO has 12 Contracting Parties i.e. Canada, Cuba, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, France (in respect of St. Pierre and Miquelon), Iceland, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United States of America.

The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is the RFMO for the North East Atlantic. The area stretches from the southern tip of Greenland, east to the Barents Sea, and south to Portugal. Its objective is the long-term conservation and optimum utilisation of the fishery resources in the Convention Area. There are 5 contracting partners, Denmark (for Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Norway and the Russian Federation, with 6 cooperating Non-Contracting parties, Bahamas, Canada, Curacao, Liberia, New Zealand and Panama.

On 17 October 1990, Portugal, France, Morocco, Spain and the European Community signed the Lisbon Agreement, which is essentially a mechanism to ensure cooperation between the Contracting Parties in the event of a pollution incident. Such a pollution incident is a discharge or danger of a discharge of hydrocarbons or other harmful substances, which has occasioned or may occasion damage to the marine environment, the coast or the related interests of one or more of the Parties, and requiring emergency action or an immediate reaction. The Agreement establish the obligation on the Contracting Parties to create their own intervention agencies and to set their own national plans of action. An International Centre, located in Portugal, is assisting the Parties to react swiftly and effectively to pollution incidents.