141% more tuna is traded than is allowed to be caught

Depressing figures do not even take account of black market
October 2011: The amount of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna traded on the global market last year exceeded the official quota by a staggering 141 per cent, according to the latest analysis.

The figure shows a rapidly worsening situation. It is the result of a study commissioned by the Pew Environment Group and compares to one two years ago in which the quota was exceeded by 31 per cent. And it could be just the tip of the iceberg, as these figures do not even account for ‘black market' bluefin that is missing from official databases.

Stronger enforcement neededThis analysis highlights the gap between the quota for Atlantic bluefin tuna allowed to be caught in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the amount traded on the international market during the period of 1998-2010.

In 2008, in response to plummeting bluefin tuna populations in the Mediterranean, member governments of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the organisation responsible for managing tuna and similar species in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, adopted stronger enforcement and trade measures. These included lower catch limits and a paper-based documentation system designed to more accurately record the amount of bluefin caught and traded. But the new study shows that despite those efforts, significant problems with illegal and unreported fishing remain.

In light of the findings, The Pew Environment Group urges ICCAT member governments to take immediate action at their annual meeting in next month. Specifically, Pew is calling for improving compliance with bluefin tuna catch quotas by ensuring that an electronic documentation system is in place for the 2012 fishing season.

‘We need to track fish from sea to plate'‘The paper-based catch documentation of the bluefin trade is rife with fraud and misinformation,' said Lee Crockett, who directs Atlantic bluefin tuna conservation at the Pew Environment Group. ‘An electronic system would provide more accurate information that can be easily shared and cross-checked instantly. Such a programme should also include a physical bar code for each bluefin, which could be easily administered and would not be cost prohibitive. This would allow the fish to be tracked from sea to plate.'

Most bluefin tuna caught in the Mediterranean are destined for ‘ranches'. Juvenile bluefin that have yet to reproduce are netted and transferred to these pens, where they are fattened for months and sometimes years before being killed and sold on the global market. The electronic catch documentation programme would help track the amount of fish in ranches.

‘Tuna ranching in the Mediterranean makes it exceedingly difficult to accurately track the number of bluefin caught,' said Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi, a bluefin tuna trade expert who conducted the analysis. ‘These offshore bluefin tuna fattening ranches are part and parcel of the problem of underreporting and non-reporting of caught fish.'

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