Mexico will continue to maintain the Dolphin Protection Policy, despite the United States tuna embargo to the Mexican tuna, assured Dr. Luis Soto, president of the panel of experts of the Tuna-Dolphin Program. “It’s now a question of honorâ€, he said.
The import of Mexican tuna in the United States is a political matter and has an international character. In principal, Mexico has ample possibility to enter the United States market. But it is a question of market and pricing given that the tuna price per ton is fluctuating, from country to country and the United States is a market Mexico wants to recuperate.
Mexico has maintained the fishing strategy that includes market diversification; offer improvement, obtaining new opportunities given that the fishing resources are not permanently stable. The experts of the Tuna-Dolphin Program celebrated their 39th Meeting to evaluate the performance of the Mexican fleet, and the results demonstrate that the fleet has committed few errors during the fishing of tuna. These results are also exposed to the international panel of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).
Some of the issues that are internationally evaluated are the use of explosives, fads and radiobuoys during the fishing of tuna, devices that are not permitted. There are fishing procedures that are allowed on board such as the use of reflectors during the night, which are very effective, and other equipment such as rafts for the rescue of dolphins that may be caught in the nets.
Dr. Soto said that during the past years, Mexican technicians and scientists have demonstrated that the vessels carrying Mexican flag have been complying with the international fishing regulations. Nevertheless, the international panel discussed another topic, the lobbying with the ecological and conservation groups, which is very strong. The countries where embargos have been enforced must make a stronger effort to convince these groups that they are complying with the norms. He said that with the result of this year’s tuna catch in the Pacific it is not yet possible to know whether a new fishing ban for yellowfin tuna will be imposed during the month of November, as has happened in previous years, because the issue has not yet been analyzed by the international panel.
Source: Mexican Press