On Monday 27 February, the European Commission announced a recent agreement among members of ICCTA (the International Commission for Conservation of Tuna in the Atlantic) on the breakdown among ICCTA members of total allowable catches (TAC) for swordfish, totalling 10,500 tonnes in 2017.
At a meeting of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, a European Commission representative gave details about the breakdown of the ICCTA’s 2017 TAC for swordfish in the Mediterranean: 70.7% of the total will go to the EU, 5.2% to Algeria, 9.9% to Morocco, 9.6% to Tunisia and 4.2% to Turkey. A reserve of 45 tonnes is planned in case other countries were to start fishing swordfish in the Mediterranean.
Talks still need to take place about the breakdown of the TAC among the different EU member states, but the Commission says the discussions have not yet begun. Italy is the main swordfish-fishing country (45% of total catches), followed by Morocco (14%), Spain (13%), Greece (10%) and Tunisia (7%).
Concerns among European fishermen. MEP Clara Eugenia Aguilera Garcia (S&D, Spain) said that fishermen are concerned about the quota that has been decided upon, explaining that if nothing was done, swordfish would die out. She criticised fishermen who cheat to get round the quotas, saying they didn’t deserve to have any swordfish quotas. Aguilera defended Spanish small-scale and family fishing and called for a fair and just breakdown. Renata Briano (S&D, Italy) also called for a fair allocation of the TAC and criticised the cheating done by some fishermen.
Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain) again called for a rise in the TAC for bluefin tuna and a fair breakdown of the swordfish quota. Ruža Tomasic (ECR, Croatia) defended Croatian fishermen.
‘Quotas work,’ said Marco Affronte (Greens/EFA, Italy). He hoped the Commission would respect the share that should go to Italy (55% of swordfish fishing, according to him) and was puzzled by the minimum size of swordfish landings decided by the ICCTA.
The Commission’s representative said that the reduction in the swordfish TAC over the next few years would be gradual (2% a year) and EU funding was foreseen to help fishermen overcome any difficulties. NGO Oceana says the swordfish population has slumped by 70% in 30 years due to overfishing. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)