Individual governments are ultimately responsible for setting rules and regulations for fishing and for enforcing them.

However, governments rely upon third-party organizations for guidance regarding what rules to create and how to enforce them to create long-term sustainability for fish stocks. These are Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs).

There are five RFMOs which focus on tuna fishing and tuna stocks throughout the world. RFMOs help to manage tuna stocks through a variety of activities including conducting scientific research on fisheries, setting limits on catches, regulating fishing gear and more.