Brussels, 06/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is currently leading consultations with Member States in view of the position the EU will be defending at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) meeting on 17-26 November in Croatia, which is expected to work out the level of catches and safeguard programme for red tuna. The Finnish presidency wants Member States to reach an agreement on EU negotiation guidelines. The dossier will be examined on Thursday 9 November by the Council's working group specialising in fishing affairs.
The draft mandate presented by the Finnish Presidency based on the ideas of EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg suggests cutting the authorised red tuna fishing period in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; harmonising the minimum loading weight at 25 kg, as opposed to the current 10 kg in the Mediterranean and 6.4 kg in the Atlantic, with a derogation for Spanish family fishing firms; increasing ship surveillance to combat illegal fishing; ending the transfer of catches from one ship to another at sea; and limiting imports once quotas have been reached. The Commission is not yet considering cutting the EU red tuna fishing quota.
The Member States are divided over cutting the number of days at sea and setting a new minimum size of fish that can be caught. The Commission is backed by countries which do not fish for red tuna, but countries which do fish red tuna (France, Italy and Spain) want less stringent restrictions and for the restrictions to not only focus on tuna senners.
The European Mediterranean Tuna Senners Association wants the ICCAT to adopt ain international play to get rid of ships flying flags of convenience and operating without restriction in the Mediterranean. It argues that the lack of such an agreement among ICCAT members would amount to openly allowing illegal fishing and over-fishing. In a press release published on 26 October, the European Mediterranean Tuna Senners Association calls for an end of the 'discrimination' of different minimum fishing sizes in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean because the size of the stock to be protected in both zones is identical; harmonising the minimum size at 10 kg to protect juveniles without any exceptions; introducing tougher rules for 'mushrooming' recreational fishing (some 40,000 licences have been issued in the Balearic Islands alone); generalising the biological fishing ban on all types of fishing without discrimination; using the satellite monitoring service VMS for all ships in the Mediterranean regardless of flag; introducing measures to ensure responsible fishing, responsible ports and responsible flags of convenience; ensuring all ships operating in the Mediterranean are subject to the same operating, monitoring and penalty conditions by a competent international body; and making use of the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean to ensure the rules are respected and applied. The European Mediterranean Tuna Senners Association says the statistics used in ICCAT scientific advice are not very reliable and therefore the advice should be taken with a pinch of salt (see EUROPE 9282). (lc)