Press Release: Fisheries: Commission satisfied with ICCAT decisions to save bluefin tuna

The European Commission was pleased with the consensus reached on 24 November, 2008, by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, to strengthen decisively the fifteen-year recovery plan for Eastern bluefin tuna, to protect endangered porbeagles in the Atlantic and to reduce the fishing season on Mediterranean swordfish. Through a combination of substantially reduced fishing opportunities, shorter fishing seasons, ambitious new control measures, and a landmark agreement on controlling both fishing and farming capacity, there will be an immediate and significant reduction in fishing pressure on the fragile bluefin tuna stock. The total allowable catch (TAC) for 2009 was reduced to 22 000 tonnes, as compared to 28 500 tonnes in 2008, and will be decreased further to 19 950 tonnes in 2010 – a reduction of 30% over two years. Subject to an early reassessment of the stock in 2010, it is also envisaged to further reduce the TAC to 18 500 tonnes in 2011. These catch limits will be backed up by a four-month reduction in the fishing season for the purse seine fleet. In a separate decision, ICCAT also established a systematic peer-review system to assess the compliance of all its members, with the power to impose rapid and effective sanctions. Both these recommendations were adopted on the basis of proposals tabled jointly by the EU, Japan and a majority of the Mediterranean coastal states.