Brussels, 26/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted a regulation on Monday 24 August prohibiting purse seiners flying the flag of or registered in Croatia, France, Italy, Malta or Spain from fishing for bluefin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
These countries had already informed the Commission that their quotas have been exhausted, so this is simply a regulation confirming the ending of fishing activities: - with effect from 24.00 on 24 June 2015 at the latest for Croatia, from 10.02 on June 2015 for France, from 11.21 on 10 June 2015 for Italy, from 8.00 on 10 June 2015 for Malta and from 15.00 on 8 June 2015 for Spain. The text of the regulation has been published in Official Journal of the EU L 223 of Wednesday 26 August.
On 11 June, the Commission indicated that the bluefin tuna fishing season for purse seiners, due to run until 24 June (start date 26 May) was effectively over (see EUROPE 11333). (Lionel Changeur)