EJF has been calling on the European Union and the Fisheries Ministers of the Member States to take immediate measures to conserve the critically endangered bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, including the elimination of driftnets once and for all.

Yet the failure of the EU to take responsibility last week for the closure of the bluefin tuna fishery and to end the use of driftnets means there is little hope of avoiding a complete collapse of bluefin tuna stocks.

Once again the EU has failed to live up to its rhetoric on the need for the sustainable management of European fish stocks.

It seems that at the meeting political wrangling has taken precedence over science, and that the Fisheries Ministers for those countries most culpable for the over-fishing and illegal fishing infractions were successful in their efforts to block conservation measures.

Despite estimates that catch levels of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic are already fast approaching the limit of 15,000 tonnes that scientists from ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) warned should not be surpassed to save the species from collapse, the ministers agreed on a ‘recovery plan’ that allows EU fleets to fish for 16,780tonnes, an amount almost double the current EU quota of 9,398tonnes for 2007.

ICCAT scientists have also urged for an increase in the minimum landing size to 30kg for bluefin tuna, but European ministers from those countries most involved in the fishery demanded the postponement of any meaningful measure on the catch size until next year. The Fisheries Ministers also put off agreement on the legislation defining a driftnet which would have closed a loophole in the EU law banning their use.

Significantly it is the same nations that have often been implicated in the over-fishing of their assigned quotas and a distinct lack of any efforts to curb the use of driftnets that have blocked these measures.