Cut Catch By Over Half And Close Spawning Areas To Save Bluefin Tuna, Says WWFff

Source: WWF

Global conservation organization WWF is urging for much greater precaution in overhauling management measures for the troubled but lucrative eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery - including cutting catches by more than half, banning fishing in areas where the tuna spawn, and suspending industrial fishing - following today’s release of key scientific recommendations.

At the close of this week’s meeting of the independent scientific committee of fisheries management body the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in Madrid, Spain, it also emerged that the very data on which the scientists have based their analyses are severely inadequate and show many gaps - with the scientists referring to considerable “unquantified uncertainties”, and that “data limitations that have plagued previous assessments remain”.

The scientists are inviting ICCAT member countries to approach the setting of fishing quotas with much greater precaution.

The scientists - gathering in advance of ICCAT’s much anticipated annual meeting on 17-27 November 2010 in Paris, France - state that to recover the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock by 2022 with a probability of at least 60 per cent, an objective agreed by ICCAT at their 2009 annual meeting in Recife, Brazil, total annual catches should be set at “between zero and the current 13,500-ton” quota. But these recommended catch figures still do not fully account for the high uncertainty in data available.

WWF is stressing the need for measures that will ensure a very high probability of recovery - especially setting the new quota within the first half of the recommended range, at below 6,000 tons per year.

“Who would get in a plane that had a 60 or even 80 per cent chance of arriving at its destination? WWF is shocked at the lack of precaution perpetuated by ICCAT in bluefin tuna management, and we are urging for catches to be slashed by at least half,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “Tuna stocks are struggling at a mere third of sustainable levels, yet rules are continuing to be flouted and reporting duties ignored - meaning ICCAT’s scientists can’t even do their job properly. The situation is an embarrassment to fishing and trading countries.”

A total annual quota of less than 6,000 tons for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock would also correspond with legal obligations of the European Union, whose fleets account for more than half of total catch in the Mediterranean. Under the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, countries are legally bound to adopt fisheries management measures that will allow fish stocks in waters including the Mediterranean to recover by 2020 - which ICCAT’s scientists say implies an annual quota for the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic within the range of 0 to 6,000 tons.

Similarly, under the current reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, countries are under pressure to manage fisheries in a sustainable way with the adoption and implementation of credible long-term management plans.

WWF is also strongly urging ICCAT member countries to adopt no-fishing sanctuaries in key Mediterranean bluefin tuna spawning grounds, to protect the fish when they are at their most fragile. Six eligible zones have been identified this year by ICCAT scientists. Member countries are due to debate the proposal in Paris. The demand from the global sashimi market, mainly in Japan, continues to fuel a rampant cycle of overexploitation that has spiraled out of control. Too many large industrial (purse seine) vessels catch too much fish while they are spawning and transfer them to tuna farms for fattening before sale and export.

Failures in the enforcement of agreed management measures and compliance with rules has been an ongoing burden on the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, and news of further problems continue to emerge. Not only are countries providing grossly inadequate and inaccurate data - which is rendering the scientists’ job increasingly difficult - it is clear that illegal fishing and trade remain widespread. A draft report released this week, with results of ICCAT’s first official regional observer program, shows that traceability from purse seine vessels to fattening farms is still highly imperfect, in spite of clear rules and massive resources allocated to control activities.

WWF is advocating the suspension in the Mediterranean of fishing by industrial purse seine fleets - whose massive hi-tech boats scoop up tunas while they spawn - to allow artisanal fishermen to continue catching tuna as they have done sustainably for thousands of years, and a top predator to remain healthy in the marine ecosystem.

But 2010 may yet be remembered as the turning point in this fisheries fiasco.

At the meeting of the world’s largest wildlife trade convention, CITES, in Doha, Qatar, in March 2010, an attempt to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin was defeated on purely political grounds - despite solid scientific justification. Strong signs emerged, however, from the CITES meeting that Japan, the EU, the U.S., Canada and Norway intend to play a leadership role in pushing for sustainable science-based measures to be adopted by ICCAT member countries this November in Paris - with their pledge to do so becoming known as the ‘Doha Commitments’.

“WWF trusts that Japan, the EU, the U.S., Canada and Norway will rise to the challenge of respecting their Doha Commitments where they pledged to proactively push for measures that will enable the recovery of Atlantic bluefin tuna at this November’s ICCAT meeting in Paris. Representing the key catch countries as well as the main consumption market for the species, this group of countries together can put forward a strong front that other countries will find it hard not to follow,” said Sergi Tudela of WWF.