Brussels, 05/07/2007 (Agence Europe) -European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg expressed considerable disappointment at the inability of the members of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to agree at their meeting in Cancun (Mexico) last week on renewing a series of measures for the protection of certain fish stocks. IATTC member nations, which include Spain, France, the United States, Canada and Japan (the European Commission has also done what is necessary to become a full member of the IATTC) failed to agree on setting up a new multi-annual management plan for tuna stocks, to replace the current plan which comes to an end in December this year. The EU also sought, in vain, to introduce improved procedures for blacklisting vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities (IUU), and a proposal by the EU for measures to reduce the by-catch of seabirds also failed to achieve consensus. An extraordinary session of the IATTC is scheduled before the end of the year to seek to reach a compromise on these issues. (lc)