Mediterranean bluefin tuna needs more than half measures on traceability, says WWF
Nature Trust (Malta) is a World Wildlife Fund partner
Istanbul, Turkey – WWF is disappointed by the insufficiency of measures to improve traceability of bluefin tuna – and the management of Mediterranean swordfish – adopted today by ICCAT, the Atlantic tuna fisheries commission, and cautions that bolder and more complete steps are urgently required.
It was hoped that this year’s meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) would see countries adopt a comprehensive plan to protect Mediterranean swordfish, as well as take steps to ensure the full traceability of bluefin tuna from ocean to plate – but only half measures have been agreed.
WWF welcomes the bringing into force of an electronic catch documentation scheme for Mediterranean bluefin – obliging fleets, tugboats, tuna fattening farms and national authorities to log all catches digitally instead of the current highly imperfect paper-based system.
But without an improvement in the provision and accuracy of data on tuna being transferred into the many fish farms that line the Mediterranean – processing the majority of tuna caught in this sea – the measure falls far short of what is required.
“ICCAT’s new bluefin tuna electronic catch documentation scheme is an important and positive leap forwards in the monitoring of the fishery and protection of the species,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.
“But no matter how comprehensive and functional this mechanism, WWF is concerned that the continued absence of data on quantity and size of bluefin tuna caged in fattening farms creates a black hole and provides an easy facility for the laundering of illegal, unregulated and unreported catches of Mediterranean bluefin tuna.”
WWF is calling for a thorough and reliable assessment of all fish transfers to tuna fattening farms across the Mediterranean – or, in the absence of this, for the banning of tuna farming altogether in the region.
On swordfish – another popular and overexploited Mediterranean fish – measures adopted today are weak and insufficient. The new legal minimum catch size of 90 cm only highlights the amounts of juvenile fish that have been caught up to now.
But steps have been put in place to allow for a Mediterranean swordfish recovery and management plan to be established by 2013. These include the obligation for countries to provide complete data on catches and fleet size, as well as scientific information on the species.
This new collection of swordfish data should allow ICCAT’s scientific committee to carry out an improved assessment of the swordfish stock and fishery in 2013 – as well as assess overcapacity. This should in turn pave the way for a necessary fishing fleet reduction plan, similar to the one currently in force for Mediterranean bluefin tuna.
“WWF is disappointed at the lack of ambitious measures adopted by ICCAT for Mediterranean swordfish – a fishery riddled with overfishing and too much catch of juvenile fish,” said Dr Susana Sainz-Trápaga, Fisheries Advocacy Officer at WWF Mediterranean.
“But good fisheries management requires accurate and comprehensive data, as well as sound science – and the measures adopted by ICCAT members in Istanbul should help provide this. WWF will be keeping an extremely close watch now to ensure countries comply with this fundamental new obligation of swordfish data provision,” said WWF’s Dr Sainz-Trápaga.
Meanwhile, serious allegations of illegal bluefin tuna fishing by foreign fleets in Libyan waters during the country’s unrest in the 2011 fishing season attracted heated discussion at the Istanbul meeting. ICCAT members have committed to carry out research in 2012 on this issue, which WWF will closely scrutinise.
A commitment to improve science also emerged this year, with members agreeing on the need to strengthen the quality of scientific advice developed by ICCAT’s own scientists. External experts will be invited to participate in fish stock assessments, and for the first time peer reviewing of ICCAT’s science will also be introduced.
“WWF is pleased to see the introduction of these measures that will strengthen ICCAT’s science, which at the end of the day forms the foundations of its fisheries recovery and management plans,” said Dr Tudela of WWF. “We hope these improvements will already benefit the next stock assessment of bluefin tuna in the coming year, which will in turn strengthen future management measures for this endangered fish. This and accurate reporting by countries will pave the way for better fisheries management in future.”
ICCAT members meeting in Istanbul have also agreed on a fundamental ‘no data, no fish’ principle whereby unless countries provide requested data on each fishery, they cannot send boats out to catch that fish again the following year.
Protection measures were also introduced for silky sharks – recently ranked the most vulnerable of all Atlantic shark species. The silky shark is a frequent victim of accidental catch in several ICCAT fisheries, and countries are now obliged to release this species if caught in fishing nets and other gears.
The next stock assessment – and potential amendment of species recovery and management measures – for the East Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, ICCAT’s headline species, will take place at the 2012 annual meeting.
