Source: Radio Sucre
This year’s first tuna fishing ban period in the Eastern Pacific Ocean will be from July 29 to September 28. In Ecuador, 53 vessels are requested to respect the biological ban.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, through the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Fish Director of Sustainable Development, Mr. Marcos Vargas Cevallos, said that vessels classified from 4 to 6 (with a volume of more than 182 metric tons), will have to comply with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission’s (IATTC) Recommendation C-10-01; therefore implement the EPO tuna fishing ban in two periods during the 2011, 2012 and 2013.
He added that 53 of all the vessels registered with the Undersecretariat of Fisheries will be in port during the first closure period, which runs from July 29 to September 28, 2011 and 34 vessels will stop fishing during the second ban period from November 18 to January 18, 2012.
As in the past, there is an exception for class 4 vessels, which are allowed to make only one fishing trip of 30 days during the tuna fishing ban periods, provided they carry an observer from the Ecuadorian or IATTC Observer Program onboard.
Cevallos indicated that this ban is not only set for Ecuador , but is also joined by the governments of Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, European Union, Japan, USA, Venezuela, Guatemala, a.o.