Brussels, 27/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 26 November, after a week of meetings and tense debate in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the 42 Members of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) reached an agreement which they hope will guarantee the survival of bluefin tuna stocks in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. “The decisive measures agreed by ICCAT today represent a realistic chance for the gradual recovery of bluefin tuna and, also importantly, for the sustainability of the fisheries, the fleets and the coastal communities involved,” said European Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg.
The 15-year bluefin tuna recovery plan, which is due to come into force on 1st January 2007, provides for a gradual reduction in annual fishing quotas, from 32,000 tonnes today to 25,500 tonnes in 2010, and a considerable extension of closed seasons, for different periods depending on fisheries methods.
Quotas: ICCAT will use a meeting scheduled for Japan in January for parties to determine, among themselves, how bluefin tuna quotas in the Atlantic and Mediterranean are to be shared. The EU will then allocate Total Allowable Catches (TACs) to those Member States which have a quota. Out of the 32,000 tonne total, EU vessels have 18,301t (Spain - 6,266t; France - 6,186t; Italy - 4,880t; Portugal - 590t; Greece - 323t; and Cyprus and Malta can fish under ICCAT's “others” quota). The entire TAC is to be shared among the EU, Japan, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia and Libya. “ICCAT's figures are reasonable even though they are still well above the figure of 15,000 tonnes annually that scientists wanted to protect the species,” said an expert.
Seasonal closures: for large-scale pelagic longline vessels over 24 metres, the closure will last from 1st June to 31 December (at present there is only a two-month ban on fishing, from 1st June to 31 July). Purse seine fishing will fair scarcely better, with closure of fishing from 1st July to 31 December (currently, from 16 July to 15 August), after the period of reproduction in June, which is particularly good for fishing as the fish rise to the surface. Bait boats and pelagic trawlers, which have been able to fish all year until now, will have a closure from 15 November to 15 May.
Minimum weight: another significant measure is the minimum landing size, which is to increase from 10kg to 30kg, thereby reducing by 50% the number of juveniles caught.
Recreational fisheries: amateur (recreational) fishing will be regulated for the first time, with only one bluefin tuna allowed per fishing trip. Similarly, the use of aircraft to locate shoals of tuna will be totally banned.
Inspection, control: the agreement provides for a range of measures reinforcing inspection and control, which are felt to be not sufficiently robust currently: certification will be necessary along the whole process from the catch to the market; vessels will have to inform the port state before landing tuna or stocking fattening cages; an inspection system will be put in place allowing a team from any of the ICCAT contracting parties to carry out inspections on board vessels from any of the other contracting parties (a report will then be sent to the flag state); information on bluefin tuna catches will have to be sent in real time to ICCAT, thereby allowing it to see how the quotas are being used up. All these measures should help combat illegal fishing, which is estimated to account for half the overall quota. Some scientists are doubtful that the measures will be applied. One said “95% of Mediterranean vessels do not even submit their logbooks to ICCAT. Things are very lax in general”.
Two different sides met in negotiations in Croatia. On the one side, countries like the United Staes, Canada, Norway, and Iceland (which do not fish bluefin tuna in the region) wanted the recommendations (with a ceiling of 15,000t on catches) from ICCAT's scientific committee to be adopted. To the surprise of all, Japan, which is the main importer of Atlantic bluefin tuna, called for ambitious reductions in catches. On the other side, the EU and other countries (Turkey, Morocco etc.) argued for the retention of the current TAC of 32,000t. Scientists were of the opinion that, for many years, total catches (legal and illegal) had been of the order of 50,000 tonnes and that there could be a sharp collapse if catches were not drastically reduced. That is what happened with southern bluefin tuna, annual catches of which have not risen, after measures were taken too late.
France criticised the agreement which, it said, “does not sufficiently fulfil the conditions of the fight against illegal fishing” (no effective measures to impose the monitoring of all vessels fishing in the Mediterranean). In addition, the agreement does not contain arrangements to restrict or reduce fishing capacity or the capacity of fattening cages, “which is of particular concern”, added French Fisheries Minister Dominique Bussereau. “Under these conditions, measures to reduce official fishing quotas, the monitoring of fishing seasons and the rise in the minimum landing size, will have a greater effect on a fleet fishing legally, especially the French fleet, without having any effect on illegal fishing,” he said.
Environmental organisations, such as Greenpeace and WWF, accused the EU, which was instrumental in reaching compromise, of having “condemned the bluefin tuna to commercial extinction”. (lc)