Strasbourg, 12/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has, by a very wide majority, approved, subject to certain amendments, the proposal for a revised recovery plan for bluefin tuna stocks (see EUROPE 9849). The amendments adopted allow: - account to be taken of vessels fishing for several different species (once the bluefin tuna quota is exhausted, fishing authorisation will only be suspended for bluefin tuna); - observers to be on 100% (not “at least 20%” as put forward in the original proposal) of vessels over 24 metres using purse seine nets; - it to be stated that there are occasions when the distance between the fishing grounds and the landing port is less than four hours (in procedures where the captain of the vessel has to say that he is going to land fish in a port). EU fisheries ministers are expected to adopt this text very quickly, and it could come into effect by 15 April 2009 at the latest, when the bluefin tuna season opens.
“Ultimately, I welcome the various measures proposed which, although binding on our operators, are up to the challenge,” said the chairman of the EP fisheries committee, Frenchman Philippe Morillon, during the debate that took place on the evening before voting. He highlighted that the most important of the measures were those on control. “Without control, no recovery plan can be effective,” he added.
European Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg said that 2009 would be a “test of our ability to demonstrate our commitment to the sustainability of this endemic stock”. He backed capacity reduction, especially of the purse seine fleet, if the success of the recovery plan was to be guaranteed. He welcomed France's announcement of measures to encourage fishermen to decommission vessels, in order to reduce the size of the fleet, and he called on Italy to do the same. The Commission, he said, would not hesitate to close the bluefin tuna fishery early, just as it had done last year, he said. Only the fleet of that member state would suffer the consequences of its overshooting its quota, not the fleet of the Community as a whole.
Borg also disagreed with the comments of Raul Romeva (Greens/EFA, Spain) that the revised recovery plan for bluefin tuna was rather a “death certificate”. The recovery plan, if properly implemented, “gives us a realistic and reasonable chance to see to it that the stock does recover,” said the commissioner. He noted that the EU had reduced total allowable catches (TACs) from 15,641 tonnes in 2008 to 12,406 tonnes in 2009. (L.C./transl.rt)