The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decided in Vilamoura, Portugal, on Monday 21 November to put in place for the very first time a total allowable catch (TAC) for swordfish in the Mediterranean.
Swordfish stocks are in very bad shape. The EU, which is responsible for 75% of the catches, assumed its responsibility and put the proposal to the other ICCAT contracting parties that measures be adopted to protect this species from overfishing. ICCAT approved the proposal, putting in place a recovery plan for swordfish stocks in the Mediterranean. The 15-year plan (2017-2031) will seek to achieve fishing in line with maximum sustainable yield (MSY).
10,500 tonnes of swordfish in 2017. The TAC, to be shared among the ICCAT members, will be 10,500 tonnes in 2017, then fishing opportunities will be reduced by 15% between 2018 and 2022, that is, a 3% annual cut in catches. The initial figures doing the rounds before the ICCAT talks suggested a 25% cut in the TAC was on the cards. An ICCAT working party is expected to meet at the start of next year to determine how the TAC is to be shared among the various countries which catch swordfish. The ICCAT scientific committee will conduct a fresh assessment of the stock in 2019. The TAC could be revised, in light of the committee’s conclusions, by the end of 2019.
Italy is the largest swordfish fishing country (45% of the catch), followed by Morocco (14%), Spain (13%), Greece (10%) and Tunisia (7%).
Technical measures. The agreement also tightens technical and control measures: increasing the minimum size to protect juveniles, monitoring sport and recreational fishery, introducing a scheme of international inspections and deploying scientific observers on board vessels. The plan takes account of the socio-economic specificities of the small-scale fisheries around the Mediterranean Sea, the Commission states.
According to ICCAT scientific data, after peaking at 23,365 tonnes in 1988, the amount of swordfish caught and reported has fallen, fluctuating between 12,000 and 16,000 until 2011. Over the last few years (2012-2015), catches have been stable at around 10,000 tonnes.
According to NGO Oceana, swordfish numbers have plummeted by 70% in 30 years as a result of overfishing, and 70% of the fish caught are juveniles (under three years old), that is to say, fish that have not reached maturity and been able to reproduce. Oceana regretted the lack of ambition in this recovery plan: “Sadly, the plan is too weak, too far from scientific advice and still puts the stock at risk”, it said in a press release, arguing that the reduction in the TAC is not high enough.
Opaque market. Oceana is critical, too, of the traceability and transparency in the swordfish market. It says that to satisfy internal demand, Italy needs to import four times (16,363 tonnes) more fresh swordfish than the amount it catches itself and relies heavily on Spain for fresh swordfish exports. Spain itself imports swordfish from Morocco. It is unclear whether these exported catches originate in the Atlantic or the Mediterranean, highlighting the non-existent traceability in such catches, Oceana says. It highlights that between 2007 and 2011, Morocco’s swordfish exports exceeded its catches by an average of 185 tonnes. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)