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Spain Admits Underreporting 2007 Bluefin Catches By 35% - Exceeding Quotaff

1 July 2008 Spain

Conservation organizations WWF and Greenpeace have expressed serious concern at official data released by the Spanish government revealing an overshoot of the country’s fishing quota for Mediterranean bluefin tuna in the 2007 season – of over 25 per cent.

Statistics supplied by Spain’s Presidency Ministry this week in its written reply to the Spanish Congress of MPs, reveal that total Spanish catches of Mediterranean bluefin tuna in 2007 were at least 7,000 tons – some 1,500 tons more than the legal quota of 5,568 tons – indicating an excess of over 25 per cent.

Spain reported only 5,192 tons of bluefin tuna catches to the EU for 2007, thus concealing the illegal catch that this week’s data have now revealed. Compared to the 7000 tons actually caught, this means an initial underreporting by 35%.

 

The Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery has one of the highest levels of overfishing in the world, and ascertaining real catch rates is not an easy task. WWF and Greenpeace have repeatedly requested investigations into the catch declarations of the 6 Spanish purse seine vessels on various occasions, without satisfactory response.

The Spanish government this week sheds light on this issue by stating that in 2007 “a figure above 3,000 tons was reached” for the Spanish purse seine fleet – contrasting the 1,638 tons as originally reported by Spain to the European Commission.

“This is not the first time WWF and Greenpeace have blown the whistle that Spanish statistics on bluefin tuna catch do not add up,” added Raul García, Fisheries Officer at WWF.

“There is mounting evidence that Spain is a major perpetrator of the dramatic crisis facing the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock. Spain not only has the largest fishing quota for this species, but it continues to defy the law by exceeding allowable catch levels – and so substantially.”

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