Anger is brewing among environmentalists, from the ocean protection organisation Oceana to the European Parliament’s Greens group: far from following the advice of its own scientific experts, who recommended a stop to bluefin tuna fishing, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) - meeting in Recife, Brazil, from 6 to 15 November, settled for reducing quotas and cutting short the fishing season for this species. “ICCAT has failed miserably in its conservation responsibilities,” protested Raül Romeva, Greens-EFA vice-president (Spain) and member of the European Parliament’s Commitee on Fisheries (PECH), who strongly condemns the European Commission, blamed for having largely contributed to these minimalist positions.

ICCAT decided to reduce the total allowable catch (TAC) for bluefin tuna  from 22,000 tonnes to 13,500 tonnes for 2010, which amounts to a 40% reduction in quotas. The fishing season has been reduced to one month (15 May-15 June) and exemptions in case of bad weather conditions have been withdrawn. The possibility of suspending fishing if new scientific evaluations in the course of the year were to detect a serious risk of stock collapse remains open. This decision appears to satisfy the Commission, which also specifies that it has asked the other parties to follow its example and take measures to reduce fishing capacities by 50% by 2011.

“FAIT ACCOMPLI“

The Commission sees this as an “important step,” whereas Romeva underlines that “even a reduction to 8,000 tonnes has only a 50% chance of allowing bluefin to recover – by 2023!”. He believes that the Commission is largely to blame because, “at the end of the secret negotiations, the EU tabled a ‘fait accompli’ proposal for a total bluefin tuna fishing quota of 13,500 tonnes”. The NGO Oceana is hardly more sympathetic, accusing ICCAT and its member states of having yielded to political and industrial pressure. “Instead of imposing a moratorium on tuna fishing, the only decision able to ensure the reconstitution of stock, they’ve decided to implement a TAC of 13,500 tonnes; individual vessel quotas will be too low to economically sustain fishing activities, which will definitely encourage underreporting of catches and illegal fishing”.

ICCAT was no longer able to take the necessary measures to regulate shark fishing and ensure the protection of the most threatened species (thresher sharks, porbeagle and shortfin mako). While it decided to prohibit the retention, landing and sale of thresher sharks, which are particularly at risk, and urge countries not to undertake directed fisheries for all species belonging to the same genus, it was unable to reach a consensus on other decisions. Even this single decision has been further weakened by an important exemption in favour of Mexico, authorised to catch 110 thresher sharks.