U.S. Group Wants To Stop Bluefin Imports: “ICCAT Doesn’t Work”ff

Source: Carolina Coast

The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) is urging the federal government to stop the international trade of bluefin tuna to combat overfishing.

The association made this request to the federal government after the results of the last several meetings of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the global commission created to manage Atlantic tuna species. Chester Brewer, CCA National Government Relations Committee chairman, said in a press release Sept. 25 that such a ban is the only option left to save the tuna after the last several ICCAT meetings, plus the European Union’s failure to agree on a ban.

“It’s time for the United States to demonstrate some leadership and insist that all international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna be halted, while hope for recovery still remains,” Mr. Brewer said.

Bluefin tuna are a species harvested around the world. In the Atlantic Ocean, the bluefin tuna stock is divided into two groups: the western fishery, fished by the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan; and the eastern fishery, fished by the European and Mediterranean countries. These two fisheries co-mingle, though, so often what affects one fishery affects both.

Historically the western countries have abided by the quotas set by ICCAT. The eastern countries, however, have been overfishing their fisheries and ICCAT hasn’t taken any action to stop it. This was confirmed Friday in an e-mail from Kim Blankenbeker, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) foreign affairs specialist.

“The 2008 assessment indicated that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) was declining rapidly while fishing mortality continues to increase, especially for large fish,” she said, referring to the biomass for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock. “Harvests were at least three times higher than biomass levels that would rebuild the stock to support maximum sustainable yield.”

The 2008 assessment for the western Atlantic stock showed that while it too was overfished and overfishing was occurring, estimates showed slow progress toward rebuilding and a declining mortality rate since 2006. The ICCAT Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) noted that catches have been declining in the western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock since 2003.

ICCAT adopted management measures in 2008 that included reduced harvest quotas for both eastern and western stocks. The 2009 total quota for the eastern bluefin tuna stocks was set at 22,000 metric tons (mt), the 2010 quota at 19,950 mt and the 2011 quota at 18,500 mt. The 2009 western total quota was set at 1,900 mt and the 2010 quota at 1,800 mt.

Ms. Blankenbeker said the measures had a 75 percent chance of rebuilding the western bluefin tuna stock by 2019. The measures taken for the eastern fishery, however, are allowing overfishing to continue.   

The CCA doesn’t think ICCAT works anymore. Bob Hayes, CCA general council, was appointed by the federal government to be recreational commissioner to ICCAT. Mr. Hayes said Wednesday the CCA has concluded “the present international management of bluefin tuna is a failure.”

“So the question becomes who can manage it,” he said. “We recommend it become an Appendix I species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).”

CITES is an international agreement between governments to prohibit international trade in specimens and plants that may threaten their survival. The list of protected species is divided into three appendices. Appendix III animals and plans are protected in at least one country which has asked other CITES member countries for help in controlling trade. Appendix II species aren’t threatened with extinction, but trade must be controlled in order to protect them. Appendix I species, the one to which the CCA recommends bluefin tuna be added, are species threatened with extinction; international trade would be permitted only in “exceptional circumstances.”

Stopping international trade would prevent the eastern countries from selling their fish to Japan, the largest importer of bluefin tuna. Mr. Hayes said if this demand is reduced, the bluefin tuna take might get down to a scientifically acceptable level.

While international bluefin tuna trade would be stopped, domestic trade wouldn’t.  Commercial fishermen in the United States would still be able to catch and sell BLUEFIN TUNA to local markets. Mr. Hayes said the U.S. market for bluefin tuna vastly exceeds the amount that can be caught.

 â€œIf you prohibit the import of bluefin tuna,” he said, “your fishermen are going to get rich.”

Ms. Blankenbeker said U.S. trade data shows a decline in bluefin tuna exports from the U.S. and an increase in imports in 2003. Since 2001, imports have made up 75 percent of bluefin tuna sold in the U.S. This means if these imports were stopped, it would fall to domestic commercial fishermen to fill this demand.

 Venable Proctor, CCA national chairman, sent a letter Sept. 24, to Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, encouraging them to have bluefin tuna listed as Appendix I. Mr. Proctor said the management of bluefin tuna by ICCAT is an “international disgrace” and the United States needs to take more of a leadership role.

“ICCAT has failed to take any action to enforce its own regulations on its own members, which violate already excessive quotas with impunity, resulting in annual harvest that have been 400 percent of levels recommended by biologists intimately familiar with the species,” Mr. Proctor said. “There is no long any reason to expect ICCAT to end the over-exploitation of bluefin.”

Overfishing is not the fault of American fishermen, according to the CCA. Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA Gulf fisheries consultant, said in the Sept. 25 press release American fishermen and markets aren’t responsible for driving bluefin tuna to the edge of extinction.

“But we need to lead the solution to salvage what is left and set it on the road to recovery,” he said.