Brussels, 22/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Five major world tuna fishing organisations are meeting on Monday 22 January - Friday 26 January in Kobe, western Japan, in an effort to obtain an agreement on different measures for restocking Bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The regional organisations responsible for this issue, and which represent a total of more than 60 countries are as follows: The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), The Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC), The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT).
The parties will be discussing the distribution of Bluefin quotas, as well as measures for improving the exchange of information about illegal fishing. Several regional bodies taking part in the Kobe meeting recently adopted measures aimed at protecting tuna resources. Therefore, last November ICCAT decided to gradually reduce annual authorised catches of Bluefin tuna, extend closure periods and increase the minimum weight of sales allowed for this species (EUROPE 9315 for details). At the end of December, European fisheries ministers set out a temporary EU Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 9398 t for Bluefin in 2007, a 50% reduction compared to 2006 (EUROPE 9333). A month earlier, in October, the WCPFC agreed to a 20% reduction in catches of Bluefin in 2007, to 11,530 tonnes. These quota reductions are actually supported by Japan, which is easily the biggest consumer of tuna in the world. (lc)