As the European Commission continues contemplating to what extent it is to cut the tuna quotas for Maltese fishermen, Malta has signed on to a number of measures recommended in November by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at a UN General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) meeting this month.
Foremost among the disputed measures agreed upon, particularly for small-scale Maltese tuna fishermen, is the measure increasing the minimum tuna catch size to 30 kilos – up from the current 10-kilo limit.
Additionally, all landings of bluefin tuna or transfers to cages, or tuna farms, will be subject to prior notification and strict control measures.
The multiple measures adopted by the meeting of the United Nations body comprise a recovery plan for the bluefin tuna species, which has been in serious decline throughout the
Although the government is said to be opposing a proposed cut in Malta’s overall tuna catch quotas, which currently stands at 344 tons per year and which was recently cut in half provisionally by the EC pending a final decision expected this month, a number of related and contentious measures have been agreed to by the government.
Other measures include an extension of the closed season for bluefin tuna and a prohibition of large-scale pelagic long-line vessels between 1 June and 31 December. Similar restrictions are also to be introduced as regards purse seine fishing, bait boats and pelagic trawlers, while an extension of the ban, from June to the whole of the year, on the use of aircraft to spot the aggregation of tuna has also been agreed to. Recreational fishing will also be limited to one bluefin tuna per expedition, as well as a ban on the transshipment of tuna at sea for purse seiners.
The EU’s tuna fishing industry has labeled the measures as excessive for the practice of the trade in countries with tuna fishing industries –
Environmental organizations, meanwhile, have deemed the measures as being too weak to address the full extent of the problem.
The overriding issue of tuna catches allowable for EU member States will be decided on by the European Commission at the end of month following a meeting of the ICCAT in
But in anticipation of the setting of definitive quotas for the 2007 season, the EU Council of Ministers has introduced temporary quotas for the EU States, which represent half last year’s allotments.
They are as follows: