Call For Immediate 3 Year Full Closure Of Med Bluefin Fisheryff

WWF is calling for an immediate 3-year closure of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, following a season of unprecedented illegal and uncontrolled fishing which has resulted in massive over-quota catches.

”Mediterranean bluefin tuna is a dirty fishery, with huge illegal fishing and fraud,” says Miguel Jorge, Deputy Director of WWF’s Global Marine Program. “This situation is the most scandalous case of fisheries mismanagement currently happening in the world - an immediate moratorium is now the only sure way to avoid collapse.”

Japanese traders are benefiting from this mismanagement - they buy the tuna at a low price, selling it on at a high price on the Japanese market. The Mitsubishi Corporation, for example - which accounts for some 40 per cent of Mediterranean bluefin imports to Japan - has been made aware by WWF of the crisis but is continuing to trade in Mediterranean bluefin as long as the fish is available for sale.

”Companies continuing to trade in Mediterranean bluefin are willing accomplices in the demise of this majestic species - the same principle applies to fish farming businesses like Ricardo Fuentes e Hijos, the biggest tuna farm company in the world, which dominates the Mediterranean farming industry,” adds Jorge.

There is no way of knowing whether a bluefin tuna is illegal or not - quite simply if it comes from the Mediterranean, it is suspect.

According to the WWF the latest evidence of a fishery in crisis includes:

-Official catches by EU fleets exceeding EU quota by some 4,000 tons, with French reported catches almost doubling the national quota (France fished 10,165 tons by end-August this year compared to its 5,593-tonne quota). In addition, it is impossible to determine how many illegal and unreported catches across the Mediterranean fishery remain unknown.

-Other Mediterranean fishing nations, notably Italy and Turkey, are reported by the media to be involved in a web of fraud currently under investigation in France - such as laundering over-quota catches using false French catch documents.

-Fleets are known to be currently preparing illegal spotting plane strategies for the 2008 fishing season in Libyan waters, the last remaining breeding grounds in the Mediterranean.

”What more evidence is needed of the dire lack of governance in this fishery?” continues Jorge. “What’s needed is an end to the Mediterranean bluefin fishery until further notice - it must not reopen before the stock is starting to recover and sustainable management established.”

Source: WWF Press Release