WWF welcomes EU Commissioner’s call for big cut in Mediterranean bluefin tuna catches

Last chance for Mediterranean tuna

October 2010. WWF, the global conservation organization, has welcomed the EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki's call for a significant cut in catches of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic ahead of the European Union's leadership role at a major fisheries management meeting next month in Paris, France.

EU Commissioner Damanaki has announced her support for a substantial decrease in total allowable catch of East Atlantic bluefin tuna next year. Spanish Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens, Raül Romeva i Rueda, confirmed Commissioner Damanaki's urge for a "substantial decrease" in catches at the meeting.

WWF is calling for this to form a fundamental part of the EU's position at the meeting of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) members on 17-27 November 2010 in Paris, France.

Recovery plan
A new recovery plan for East Atlantic bluefin tuna must be agreed at the Paris ICCAT conference. In the coming days the EU Commission and Member States will formally agree the EU's negotiating mandate for that meeting.

"Commissioner Damanaki is laying out what could be a possible rescue plan for the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery based on science and not politics" said Tony Long, Director of WWF's European Policy Programme in Brussels. "We call on Member States to follow this lead to secure a long-term future for a sustainable artisanal fishery and a thriving marine ecosystem. The EU Commissioner is showing a way forward that counteracts strong pressure from short-term business interests."

Current stock is only 1/3 of sustainable levels
A recent scientific assessment of East Atlantic bluefin tuna by ICCAT scientists has shown that stock size is only one third of sustainable levels, and that only a total fishing quota of less than 6,000 tonnes per year might allow the tuna stock to rebuild by 2020 with a probability of over 60 per cent. The scientists also urged ICCAT to be especially precautionary this year, given the high uncertainty in data available - a result of the poor quality of reporting related to rife illegalities.

The EU, including all Member States, is legally obliged through its Marine Strategy Framework Directive to immediately establish measures aimed at achieving recovery of fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2020 at the latest.

Purse seine fishery
Besides cutting total annual catch to below 6,000 tonnes, WWF is also calling on the EU and other ICCA members to suspend the industrial purse seine fishery - responsible for the current catastrophic situation of the stock - and to establish no-fishing zones in the six known spawning grounds of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.

"This package of measures gives at least a chance of recovery to East Atlantic bluefin tuna," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "It is high time to show the world that Europe, with its historical role in willingly allowing the depletion of tuna stocks, is ready for a U-turn by leading on the recovery of Atlantic bluefin."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iccat-2010.html