BRAZIL/FILE: Atlantic tuna management group struggles to agree on new fishing quotas

Record ID: 721438

  • Title: BRAZIL/FILE: Atlantic tuna management group struggles to agree on new fishing quotas
  • Date: 9th November 2009
  • Summary: AT SEA, SPAIN (FILE) (REUTERS) FISHERMEN AT SEA WAITING BY NETS
  • Embargoed: 24th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA90L1DORVAYJVUXUA8GNSC2OHN
  • Story Text: Talks about the future of the beleaguered Atlantic bluefin tuna started to heat up on Sunday (November 8) as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) struggled agree on a new fishing quota to protect the species.
    Environmentalists and scientists say populations of the bluefin and other important commercial species such as the porbeagle and thresher sharks are critically depleted and may take decades to recover their numbers.
    The Atlantic tuna management group's 48 member countries are currently meeting behind closed doors at a resort near Brazil's northeastern city of Recife until November 15 to decide on further cuts to fishing quotas.
    Mediterranean countries have resisted European Union calls to cut fishing quotas and want to keep catch limits above the levels recommended by ICCAT scientists.
    ICCAT researchers said last month that bluefin catches must drop to below 15,000 tonnes a year to ensure a recovery that would one day allow sustainable catches of around 50,000 tonnes a year.
    The EU said this week it would make an extra effort to cut the take of tuna to the levels recommended by scientists despite differing opinions of European countries.
    Monaco has proposed a different mechanism to protect bluefin -- listing the species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the EU this year came close to supporting that move.
    But fishing nations Spain, Italy, France, Cyprus, Greece and Malta said in September they would not allow the 27-member EU to give its combined backing to Monaco.
    EU representative, Vincent Grimaud, said the time had come for the intergovernmental body to take action and remove fishing vessels from the most critical areas.
    "Here the (European) community has come with great expectations. First and foremost to make sure that the catch, the total allowable catch for bluefin, is now fully in line with scientific advice and secondly, what is really crucial is to address overcapacity of this fishery. There are just too many boats on the sea fishing for bluefin tuna now and now is the right time to really address this issue and cut all these vessels out of this fishery," he said, during a break between the meetings.
    Several members of the ICCAT fear that if proper action is not taken after this week's conference, the group will jeopardise its already puny credibility.
    The warm-blooded tuna can weigh more than 600 kg (1,300 pounds) and fetch up to $100,000 each. It is a popular food in Japan, the world's largest fish consumer.
    The Asian country's insatiable appetite for Atlantic tuna has been a key factor behind the threat to stocks around the world, and increasing demand from other nations is now adding to that pressure.
    The head of the Japanese delegation, Masanori Miyahara, said his country has been pressing for stronger compliance and would refuse to buy Atlantic tuna from critical regions.
    "Japan's role as a fishing state is getting smaller and smaller and now you see our role as an importing state is getting larger and large, so we have to request discipline in this situation as a market state, because, otherwise, we can't continue to import. We need sustainability of resources, this is very important," he said.
    Shark conservation director for the Pew Environment Group, Matt Rand, said the ICCAT has a questionable history and had to make an urgent move to prevent overfishing of the Atlantic tuna and certain sharks which are on the brink of extinction.
    "It is a difficult dynamic when you have 48 different parties coming to the table to try to affectively manage a situation, but that is what they are supposed to do, that is their mandate, they are supposed to manage this common resource. This resource is for all people, sharks and tuna are a common property, it is not a certain company or a certain country that owns them. They have to manage this resource for the future generations and the current generation. But, unfortunately, declines continue and that is the concern," he said.
    The EU also said it would call on ICCAT to take ambitious steps to protect porbeagle and thresher sharks.
    The porbeagle is a smaller relation of the man-eating great white that is prized by sport fishermen for its ability to jump out of the water as it fights the line.
    The thresher shark grows to more than 500 kg and is known for its exceptionally long tail fin, which it uses to corral and stun schooling fishes.
    Both shark species are fished for their fins, which are prized in Asia as an ingredient for soup, but they struggle to recover their numbers because like all sharks they breed so slowly.
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