Failure to protect Bluefin Tuna and continued use of driftnets in the Mediterranean may spell the end for the Blue Fin tuna

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has once again failed a species that it was created to protect.

ICCAT’s annual meeting has failed yet again to bring in adequate measures to ensure the survival of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Since it’s inception in 1966, ICCAT has presided over an 80% fall in stock size, leading some conservationists to dub it, ‘The International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna’.

ICCAT’s own scientists recently agreed that stocks of Atlantic bluefin are so low, that to show any chance of recovery a maximum quota of 8000 tonnes should be set for 2010 – and even this would have only a 50 per cent chance of achieving a recovery by 2023.

Another ICCAT study showed only a total fishing halt would result in a decent chance of recovery of the bluefin population by 2019. Yet in keeping with a forty-year tradition, ICCAT decided to ignore scientific advice and set a total allowable catch of 13,500 tonnes, effectively consigning the bluefin tuna to commercial extinction.

On top of the legal catch, ICCAT itself estimated that in 2007, illegal fishing brought the total catch of bluefin to 60,000 metric tons, nearly twice the legal annual allowance for that year.

The Mediterranean tuna fishery has massive over-capacity, with too many fishing vessels chasing too few fish. Illegal fishing and underreporting are common, meaning actual catches are normally one third higher than the quota set. By lowering the quota it is extremely unlikely that fewer tuna will be caught, as many fishers will simply increase their shady tactics. What they should be doing is increasing enforcement requirements, decreasing catch limits and listening to science.

Even the ICCAT decision to reduce the season for industrial fishing for bluefin tuna with purse seine fleets from two months to one is not adequate, as it remains open during the peak of the spawning period of 15 May to 15 June, thereby heavily and unnecessarily impacting the bluefins ability to reproduce and recover. Meanwhile, ICCAT continues to ignore long-standing calls to establish sanctuaries in key bluefin tuna spawning grounds such as the Spain’s Balearic Islands.

It’s not just bad news for tuna though; ICCAT have failed to make any firm decisions on protecting endangered Mako and Porbeagle sharks, or introduce techniques to limit the accidental bycatch of turtles and seabirds - putting off these decisions until next year. And despite a United Nations world-wide ban and a supporting European Union ban on driftnets, ICCAT has inexplicably decided to allow Morocco to continue using driftnets for the next two years- signing the death warrants for thousands of dolphins and turtles that annually get caught in these ‘walls of death’.

In an independent review last year, ICCAT’s management of tuna and sharks was dubbed an ‘international disgrace’ and many assumed that this and mounting public pressure might force them into action. Once again however, they have failed in their duties. Scientists, environmental organisations and governments have been calling for a moratorium on the bluefin tuna fishery to give stocks a chance to recover as the only effective means to save the species.

“ICCAT’s utter failure to take the necessary steps to save the species it was established to protect and sustainably manage is a disgrace” said Steve Trent, EJF Director. “They have ignored their own scientists and the voices of a global community of experts and conservationists, thereby failing in their obligations and purpose, consigning the bluefin tuna to commercial extinction while allowing the continued devastation of shark species and marine wildlife. The decision to allow Morocco to continue to use drift nets is indefensible. Taking bluefin tuna out of ICCAT control is now the only solution”.

A proposal headed by Prince Albert of Monaco is being put forward to list the Atlantic bluefin as a threatened species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in March next year; if the proposal is approved it will result in a ban in all international trade. Countries such as the USA have committed to supporting this move if the ICCAT meeting failed to provide sufficient protection for the bluefin. Many European countries also support the ban; however Mediterranean countries that have interests in the trade in bluefin tuna including Spain, Italy, France, Malta, Greece and Cyprus cynically oppose these last ditch efforts to save the species.