Source: Diario Vasco
Not only are tuna catches limited, but there is also a supply increase from other countries on the Spanish market.
Tuna caught in foreign seas are invading the Spanish market as if they had been fished by the Spanish fleet. Therefore, the Basque Government’s Fisheries Inspection Authority will take action to prevent that foreign tuna are marketed as if they were local.
To defend the work of the drift-netters (arrantzales), it is also necessary to differentiate yellowfin and Atlantic Albacore on the Spanish market. Therefore, there will be a reinforcement in line with the same procedure maintained in recent year identifying the Basque product with the distinctive Eusko Label on as much production as possible. This way, consumers will know that the tuna have high quality and have been captured on a small scale by Basque fishermen.
In 2010, a total of 513,982 kilos of yellowfin tuna and 1,868,263 kilos of Atlantic Albacore were identified with the Eusko Label. The drift-net fishery sector expect to improve this data, given the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) cut in bluefin tuna catches.