Brussels, 11/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - With member states very concerned at the state of bluefin tuna stocks, the EU is backing a ban on the international trade in the species, linked to a range of conditions to ensure a viable future for small-scale artisanal fishermen. It will also consider how to compensate the sectors affected (see EUROPE 10093). That was what the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU said after the COREPER (Committee of member states' permanent representatives to the EU) meeting on Wednesday 10 March at which there was a qualified majority in favour of the joint stance to be adopted by the EU at the forthcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Doha on 13-25 March 2010. The EU Council of Ministers still has to formally approve the decision - it will probably do so on Friday 12 March. Only Malta said that it would vote against the text because of the impact ending the bluefin tuna trade would have on its fish farming sector.
The EU has, then, at last reached a compromise on bluefin tuna. The agreement provides for the listing of bluefin tuna, stocks of which have fallen by 60% in the course of the last 10 years as a result of overfishing, in CITES Appendix I. This would mean an end to international trade and thus to industrial fishing, the catches of which are largely for export to Asia (80% of bluefin tuna caught by EU vessels are exported to Japan for use in Sushi and Sashimi). However, three conditions are set. Firstly, the start of the suspension of international trade is to be differed for several months, until after the meeting in November of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). At this meeting, contracting parties to this regional fisheries organisation will discuss the opinion submitted by the ICCAT scientific committee one month previously. The decision will then be sent to the CITES permanent committee and the ban will come into effect in May 2011. Secondly, the EU will provide “derogations” so that artisanal fishing of bluefin tuna can continue in the waters of EU member states, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This type of small-scale fishing, carried out mainly by means of longlines or rods will then be able to continue in clearly defined zones, with catches being sold on national markets. Thirdly, the Commission has been asked to consider ways to put in place the funding measures necessary to help those fishermen affected by the decision to ban the international trade in bluefin tuna. A row is brewing, however, between the Mediterranean states which fish for bluefin tuna and other countries (such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden) which are reluctant to put their hands in their pockets. The ban will impact particularly on the tuna seiners, which catch shoals of living bluefin tuna to fatten them up for several months in “farms”, made of floating cages. The EU has now joined the United States which came out last week in favour of a ban. Japan, which accounts for 80% of world catches of this fish with its much prized flesh, has vowed to do all it can to stop CITES, which opens on Saturday 13 March, from adopting the ban. (L.C./transl.rt)