New data has found that Australia’s 24 per cent quota cut to Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) last year was not required and the industry believes it needs to be returned as soon as possible.
The news follows a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) in Tokyo last week.
The three-day conference was held to decide the target numbers of fish required to ensure SBT stock was sustained in the high seas, Great Australian Bight and New Zealand fishing zone.
All the stock indicators in the fishery have increased very quickly - especially the number of tuna in the Great Australian Bight in 2010.
As well, Japan's catch rate on the high seas and in the NZ Fishing Zone have now increased for the last two years.
"The rapid recovery is no surprise - it is because the total catch in the world SBT fishery has halved since 2007 because the high seas illegal overcatch has been largely eliminated," Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry chief executive Brian Jeffriess said.
"What this also shows is the underlying strength of the stock that it can recover so quickly once the illegal catch has dealt with."
Australia's SBT quota was cut in October 2009, but data, which was not available at the time, shows the fishery has recovered well, particularly in the Great Australian Bight.
Mr Jeffriess said there was now every reason to be optimistic about the future of the SBT fishery, especially since Australia is the only country to ranch the tuna.
"No other SBT country does that (ranch)," he said.
Mr Jeffriess also said that illegal tuna had resulted in the fish being underpriced and that the price would improve.
