EU Must Cut Tuna Fishing By Half To Save Bluefin

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WWF said a collapse in bluefin, a predator, could also trigger sharp changes in stocks of other species such as squid or sardines, also affecting fishing communities in turn.

by Staff Writers
Geneva (AFP) March 28, 2007
The environmental group WWF warned on Thursday that bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean and east Atlantic would collapse within years unless the European Union cuts its fishing of the species by half. "There is no compromise to be had, this is a countdown to collapse," Justin Woolford, head of the WWF's European fisheries campaign, told AFP.

WWF officials were adamant that bluefin tuna extinction could occur within three years at the current rate of fishing and would have a wider impact on fisheries and coastal communities, especially in the Mediterranean basin.

The group said the overall 2007 quota of 32,000 tonnes effectively allowed by the 43-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was more than twice as much as scientists had recommended to prevent extinction.

The European Commission in February followed ICCAT's advice by setting a reduced 16,779 tonne quota for the year, down from 18,301 tonnes in 2006. Spain, France and Italy account for all but 1,380 tonnes of the EU quota.

WWF warned that the EU's allocation alone was just above the total 15,000-tonne limit on catches by all countries that scientists believe is necessary prevent extinction, following decades of overfishing.

Canada has made similar appeal for a 50 percent cut by the EU.

Woolford said: "The European Commission has basically abdicated responsibility and is siding with very powerful industrial fishing interests, especially the French fleet."

A collapse in bluefin tuna could mirror the impact of overfishing on cod in the Grand Banks off the coast of Canada, he claimed.

Cod stocks in the area, historically one of the North Atlantic's richest fishing zones, collapsed suddenly in the early 1990s after years of warnings were ignored, and led to a complete ban on commercial cod fishing.

"It's the traditional tuna fishers who will suffer the most direct impact from the (bluefin) stock's collapse," said WWF's Mediterranean Fisheries head, Sergi Tudela.

"The large fleets will move on and plunder a different ocean and a different species," he added.

WWF said a collapse in bluefin, a predator, could also trigger sharp changes in stocks of other species such as squid or sardines, also affecting fishing communities in turn.

WWF appealed to fish retailers join the pressure on countries that do not halve their quotas.

The January meeting of ICCAT aimed for a 20 percent cut in bluefin tuna fishing by 2010 to restore stocks.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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