“ICCAT Will Fix Bluefin Problem Or Dies As A Credible Organization”ff

WWF’S new report, Race for the last bluefin - Capacity of the purse seine fleet targeting bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea and estimated capacity reduction needs (www.panda.org/tuna), is making waves in international fisheries management and media circles. The report exposes the Mediterranean industrial tuna fleet as having a capacity more than three and a half times the catch levels recommended by scientists to avoid stock collapse.

In announcing crucial measures to control the fishery more tightly, the European Commission has taken major steps in recognizing the extent of overfishing for Mediterranean bluefin by EU Member States - and proposing concrete inspection and control measures to be implemented during the 2008 season. The Commission's Press Release on the Joint Deployment Plan acknowledges the pertinence of WWF's new findings.

Meanwhile, at a meeting last week of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in Tokyo - which WWF attended as official observer - there was a growing consensus on the need to address the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock crisis as a matter of urgency. New ICCAT Chairman, Fabio Hazin of Brazil, said in plenary:

”This year is the very last chance for ICCAT - either it fixes the bluefin problem or it dies as a credible management organization.”

WWF’s Dr Sergi Tudela, speaking from Tokyo, added: "Much tighter monitoring and control are vitally needed in this maverick fishery this season to cut pirate fishing, and WWF welcomes the EU initiative. But this is far from sufficient to ensure the recovery of Mediterranean bluefin tuna.

”It is also essential that at November's ICCAT Special Meeting, Contracting Parties agree to dramatically revise the management plan currently in place to reflect urgent scientific advice - quotas need cutting, the closed season needs extending, and there must be no derogations to the minimum catch size of 30kg. There can be no half-measures any more.”

Given the out-of-control nature of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, WWF continues to advocate a moratorium - and to encourage the growing wave of responsible retailers, chefs and restaurants choosing to boycott the fish - until stocks are on the road to recovery.

The global conservation organization is also calling for the establishment of a sanctuary for bluefin tuna around the Balearic islands in the western Mediterranean. The Balearics were traditionally the most important breeding ground for bluefin tuna in the world - but massive overfishing in the last ten years has seen stock levels plummet to a dangerous all-time low.