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WWF says it 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.
WWF 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 says only half measures have been agreed.
WWF said it 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 conservation group says measures fall 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 were weak and insufficient, said the WFF. 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, according to WWF.
“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.
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