As negotiations on the management of tuna stocks are in full swing at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), one member country referred on Wednesday 18 May to the ‘Fishing outside the lines’ report accusing EU fleets of illegal fishing.
Europêche’s tuna group rejected the conclusions of the Blue Marine Foundation’s report (https://aeur.eu/f/1oy ), as “there was no accusation, and even no suspicion of illegal fishing from EU, Seychelles or Mauritius authorities last week in the IOTC compliance committee”.
Under EU, Seychelles and Mauritius control procedures, catches declared in logbooks by fishermen are collected, cross-checked by national scientific institutes, transmitted to flag States and verified by their control services. These data are sent to the EU authorities and to the IOTC services for publication and discussion among IOTC member countries.
However, none of these authorities have accused the EU, Seychelles or Mauritius of illegal fishing, contrary to the claims of the Blue Marine Foundation. The purse seine fleet in the Indian Ocean has decreased its catches by 20% since 2014 while IOTC catches have increased by more than 6% over the same period, notes Europêche. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)