Australia Now Has World’s Largest Southern Bluefin Quotaff

Australia and specifically Port Lincoln is now the home of the world’s largest southern bluefin tuna quota, after Japan had its quota cut in half last week.

At the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) meeting held in Miyazaki, Japan last week Japan had its quota cut from 6065 tons to 3000 tons after it was found there had been illegal fishing of southern bluefin tuna for the past 20 years.

From 1985 to 2005 Japan illegally caught up to 178,000 tons of SBT with an estimated market value of between $A6 to $A8 billion. Australian CCSBT commissioner Glenn Hurry called the level of overcatch “almost unforgivable”.

”If this overcatch had not occurred we estimate that the fishery would be five to six times larger than it is at present, well on target for our original goal to rebuild the fishery to 1980. In Australia’s time spent fighting illegal fishing around the world over the last 10 years this SBT overcatch seems to stand alone,” Mr. Hurry said.

Over the four-day CCSBT meeting commission members discussed arrangements to ensure overcatch would not happen in the future. As a result the CCSBT has come up with a number of measures to improve monitoring, control and surveillance within the fishery.

The tighter control measures will mean stricter input monitoring to ensure any fish going onto to the Japanese market it accounted for. There will be regulation of transhipping, which includes 100 per cent observer coverage on vessels by Commission appointed observers, a catch documentation scheme, and compulsory national vessel monitoring system with minimum standards.

A meeting will be held in March to develop the measures and work on further measures including an independent observer program for fishing vessels, port state measures, boarding and inspection and a vessel register.

Tuna Boat Owners Association president Brian Jeffriess said Japan had acted very responsibly by taking the reduction and introducing monitoring measures. ”It is just by far the best and most balanced outcome that we could imagine,” Mr. Jeffriess said.

Australia’s quota will remain fixed at 5265 tons for the next three years.

”It is the first time it has been set for more than a year and that is a huge step forward,” Mr. Jeffriess said. He said it would give more security for the industry and give greater scope for investment.

Another benefit from the outcome is that the price for tuna will likely increase however Mr Jeffriess said most importantly stocks would rebuild.

”The government has done a great job in this case,” he said and commended particularly Senators Eric Abetz and Ian Campbell who have worked on bringing a fair outcome for Australia.

There are 11 tuna companies based in Port Lincoln that share in that quota, which is fished from December through to February.

Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said the Japanese Government had done the right thing in agreeing on the quota cut. ”The decision is the result of several years investigation and diplomacy and cements Australia’s reputation as a world leader in global conservation,” Mr. Abetz said.

Japan’s quota of 3000 tons will remain fixed until at least 2011.