Tuna fishermen of Andalusia, Spain, are worried about a new norm proposed by the current Italian presidency of the European Union.
According to the fishermen, it would mean the end of a major part of the fleet that now fishes mostly Bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean. Thousand Andalusia boats and ten thousand crewmembers work in waters of the Mediterranean.
The European Commission has presented a new ruling to regulate the sector. Part of this new ruling is a norm that according to the fishermen only favors the Italian interests. This was the first conclusion of the Andalusia tuna sector, after studying the document.
The regulation extends the minimum sizes of the tuna fished and changes the mesh sizes of the nets. Although the Mediterranean is a closed sea, the norm will only apply for the communitarian countries Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The North African countries, which also fish in the Mediterranean, have their own fishing laws.