Brussels, 19/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission did not achieve all that it had wanted at the latest meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) in Malta from 10 to 17 November but, in a press release published late in the afternoon of Wednesday 18 November, it said that, on the whole, the EU is satisfied with the results (see EUROPE 11433).
The Commission in particular welcomed the decisions on developing harvest control rules and an evaluation system for Northern albacore. It also highlighted the adoption of conservation measures for porbeagle. The EU also managed, the Commission says, to get a comprehensive package of conservation and management measures for bigeye tuna, including a reduction in the total allowable catch and measures to reduce the mortality of juveniles.
The Commission is delighted with the ICCAT decision to fully implement the electronic bluefin tuna catch documentation system (eBCD). This system will “undoubtedly become a key tool for the conservation of the species”, argues the Commission. However, given the nature and complexity of the project, ICCAT adopted an additional recommendation providing a degree of flexibility in implementation, extending complete development of the project to 2017, an ICCAT press release states. The Commission says that the system will have to be used from 1 May 2016.
Current management measures for bluefin tuna remain unchanged. The Commission says it managed to bring forward the assessment of Mediterranean swordfish to next year, “so as to be able to work towards more efficient measures in the course of the year” 2016.
On the compliance side, the EU received a clean bill of health for a second consecutive year. Given the size of the EU fishery under ICCAT, this, the Commission points out, is quite a success.
However, the Commission acknowledges the failure of discussions on sharks, notably blue shark. The next shark stock assessment will be in 2018. The risk is that, between now and then, there will be no management measures in place. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)