Brussels, 09/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 June, the European Commission announced the closure of the annual bluefin tuna fishing season. Closure is effective from Wednesday midnight, a few days earlier than its official closing date, 15 June 2010. The Commission observed that the quotas allocated to EU boats had already been exhausted. The fishing season officially began on 16 May but fishermen waited for a while before going to sea (at the beginning of the season, weather conditions were not good).
The European commissioner for fisheries, Maria Damanaki, decided to “close the bluefin tuna fishery to purse seiners in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic, due to the exhaustion of the quotas allocated to them. France, Greece and Spain have been informed of this decision which will become effective as of midnight tonight, or earlier if the member states concerned have in the meantime decided to close the fisheries for all vessels”, explained a Commission press release. Purse seine fishing in the three countries for blue fin tuna is affected. Italy has imposed a national moratorium on this kind of fishing.
The European Commission also emphasised that this measure is necessary “to protect the fragile stock of bluefin tuna and to ensure its recovery”.
The quotas allocated to these countries have been exhausted and the figures for them are as follows: 803.9 tonnes for Spain (6 purse seiners), 1,699 tonnes for France (17 purse seiners) and 60 tonnes for Greece (1 purse seiner). The other boats (rod and line, long liner, trawlers) can continue to fish for bluefin tuna. (L.C./transl.fl)