Brussels, 08/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The fashion for sushi around the world is feeding a colossal black market for bluefin tuna worth 4 billion US$ after a decade of rampant fraud involving government complicity with fishermen, according to an international study published on Sunday 7 November 2010, published at a difficult time as the EU tries to decide on its position for the upcoming ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) meeting in Paris on 17 to 27 November.
Following seven months of research, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reached the conclusion that fishermen regularly and deliberately fish well beyond quota to feed a lucrative market despite the dangers to the very survival of the bluefin tuna species. At its height, from 1998 to 2007, the black market is conservatively estimated by the investigative journalists carrying out the research to have been worth €400 million a year and one in every three bluefin tuna was caught off-quota for the black market. “Everyone cheated,” French fishing captain Roger Del Ponte, told ICIJ.
Kate Willson, one of the investigating journalists, explained that they discovered that the system failed right the way down the line with ships over-fishing and officials turning a blind eye for years and years. ICCAT set up a new system in 2008 to monitor the sale of bluefin tuna but ICIJ reveals that its database doesn't work and tuna fishermen simply move to less monitored waters like North Africa.
Bruno Le Maire, French fisheries minister, said that he regretted that the study did not report on work by the countries that produce bluefin tuna and fishermen who have been working for years on sustainable and responsible exploitation of this resource. Commenting on the overshooting of French fishing quotas from 1997 to 2007, France points out that it stopped overshooting its quotas in 2007. France declares all its overfishing and was penalised in 2008 by having a reduction in its quotas in following years. In 2009, France was given a 3,591 tonne quota rather than 4,041 tonnes and in 2010, its quota is 2,012 tonnes rather than 2,462 tonnes. The quotas have been strictly respected since 2008. The Bluefin Tuna Catch Documentation Scheme became compulsory three years ago but Bruno Le Maire admits there is room for improvement and therefore suggests that the next meeting of ICCAT in Paris should decide to digitalise the documents and get them sent by satellite for approval in real time, as currently applies to catch declarations.
Greenpeace and the WWF comment: 'This investigation confirms that a small number of corrupt fishermen and politicians are cashing in on the extermination of bluefin tuna. This fishery is out of control and the EU is the only player who can turn things around.' (L.C./trans.fl)