Basques Demand Compensation For Losses Due To Bluefin Quota Fraudff
8 October 2007
Spain
Eusko Alkartasuna last week demanded the European Commission to provide compensation to the tuna fishing fleets which have complied with the established quotas of bluefin tuna catches and which have been damaged by countries that exceeded the quota and exhausted the volume of all the European Union.
The euro-deputy Mikel Irujo, who initiated the demand, blamed this situation on the Italian and French fleets which finalized their fishing activities during the summer with a much larger catch than the quota they were assigned.
â€This obliged the EU Commission to close the fishing operations before the predicted date, given that the quota of 16779.55 MT assigned by the European Commission had been exceededâ€, Mr. Irujo said. “This harmed Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spainâ€, he added.
Mr. Irujo stressed that “the Basque fleet has supported and complied with the norms of the Plan of Recovery from the very start. However, it is now suffering damages caused by fleets that have exceeded their limit of bluefin tuna catches, while the Basque fleet had not yet reached the quota it was assignedâ€.
