The new fishing season for Northern Bluefin started last May. Since then and until now, about 200,000 kilos of Northern Bluefin from the Mediterranean have been unloaded in the Port of Denia, Spain. This represents an increase of 30,000 kilos compared to the same period in last year’s campaign.
Sources from the Fishery Association of Denia indicate that the vessels unloading at this Spanish port hold Hispano-French licenses. The unit weight of their catch mainly vary between the 30 and 50 kilos.
According to the biologist Jose Luis Sanchez, the Northern Bluefin species are being caught before spawning in the Gulf of Leon, the French Mediterranean Coast and between Corsica and Sardinia, which -in his opinion- "once again proves the species is endangeredâ€. Given that an adult Northern Bluefin tuna weighs between 100 and 600 kilos and maintained, "the indiscriminate capture that this species has endured during last years has caused an 80% reduction of its populationâ€, said Sanchez.
Sanchez added that some of the vessels that are specifically fishing Northern Bluefin tuna are “genuine floating factories†and several of them “use devastating means to increase their catch, which not only affect mothers during the nurturing period, but also the juvenile fishâ€.
According to sources from the Fishery Association of Denia, captures will continue until mid July and confirmed that all the unloadings at the Port of Denia are controlled by the by the Nature Protection Services (SEPRONA) from the Civil Guard. They did agree with the ecologists in indicating that a certain number of fish “were either juvenile or had not yet spawnedâ€.
â€The best tunas are transferred to fattening farms in the bay of Cartagena, where there is a complete industry supplying to the Japanese markets, main consumes of this species.
Dozens of people gathered at the old fresh fish market of the Port of Denia for a couple of hours last Sunday to protest against the “indiscriminate fishing†of Northern Bluefin in the Mediterranean sea. Ecologists indicate, “the large multinationals dedicated to the capture of this species use super seiners equipped with the latest technologies and airplanes with powerful radarsâ€. They say that these methods are not only emptying the sea but also harming the local fishing sector.
The Fishing Association of Denia is demanding the Spanish authorities, as well as that of the European Union, “to adopt and apply the same basic principals for an ecological and responsible fishingâ€. Also to impose a global moratorium on the construction of new industrial vessels and to "immediately" eliminate public aids to the fattening of tunas.
Source: Spanish Press