Source: Agrocope
Spanish Bluefin Tuna boat owners warn that a further reduction of the TAC would only cause the total disappearance of the bluefin tuna industry and therefore their jobs. The next meeting will be held in November. The Committee aims to maintain the current number of catches (13.500 tons).
The Spanish bluefin tuna fishing industry has requested the Government to “support and defend†the recommendations of the Scientific Committee of the Organization Regional Fisheries Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at its next meeting, which is to be held in November and will regulate this fishery’s management norms over the next two years.
The request was made by fishers representing each of the different bluefin tuna fishing methods (trap netters, purse seiners, longline, bait and handlines).
ICCAT’s Committee calls on maintaining the current number of total allowable catches (TAC), which is 13.500 tons, as a result of the last report which states that the biomass of the species is at 57 percent of the maximum observed during the last 60 years.
The meeting recalled the effort that the industry has made to date in the conservation of tuna. In fact, there has been a 60% reduction of bluefin tuna catches in the last four years; the result of the commitment to the Recovery Plan.