Of those 14 species, the commissions of the RFMOs took action commensurate with the scientific advice in only five cases, and in three of the five cases, the actions only reflected other circumstances. Conditions that provide incentives for participating governments to take (or not to take) cooperative actions to conserve resources are discussed. Apart from complying with global obligations and expectations, the major necessary condition for successful negotiation is that all participants in a negotiation should benefit from agreement to cooperate rather than from unrestrained competition. The fishery in the eastern Pacific Ocean is used as an example to show that this condition generally cannot be expected to be met. The use of rights-based management systems is discussed and these systems are advanced as a means to facilitate the addressing of shortcomings in the current conservation and management of tuna fisheries.