Brussels, 09/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 9 October, Joe Borg, the European Commissioner for Fisheries, supported the conclusion of an international agreement to protect stocks of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and in the waters of the Atlantic. The Commissioner made this declaration after recent worrying scientific opinions on bluefin tuna, and ahead of the meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), to be held from 17 to 26 November in Croatia, which is tasked with setting the level of catch quotas and a safeguard programme for this species.
ICCAT's Standing Committee on Research and Statistics, which met in Madrid, Spain, from 3 to 7 October, stated the view that the pressure of fishing activities on bluefin tuna should be sharply reduced to avoid the collapse not only of catches, but also of the stocks of this species. According to the scientists, fishing effort is three times higher than it ought to be to allow bluefin tuna stocks to regenerate. "The scientists' discoveries tend to confirm the fears which I have expressed on many occasions: fishing effort is far outstripping catch possibilities. We must keep fishing at acceptable levels and the Commission will continue to play a ground-breaking role in attempts to protect bluefin tuna at international level", commented Joe Borg, emphasising the fact that the success of such an enterprise will depend on the capacity of all parties in question to cooperate at the forthcoming meeting of ICCAT, in November. The European Commission supports the adoption of a "package of measures" aiming to reconstitute stock and to clamp down on illegal fishing activities, which are currently "putting the future of this activity in danger". Mr Borg added that the pluri-annual management programme should refer to all stages of the commercial exploitation of bluefin tuna (from fishing to the sales of products on the market). (lc)