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AT an inter-sessional meeting last week in North Carolina, International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) contracting parties failed in their mission to recommend capacity reduction for the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fleets, WWF has claimed.
Instead, there will be a formal recommendation to "freeze" the status quo. According to WWF, this would leave fleet capacity at an estimated 50,000 tonnes in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic - well over allowable catch levels, and more than three times those recommended by ICCAT scientists themselves to ensure stock recovery.
"WWF deplores this further defiance of urgent scientific advice by those mandated to sustainably manage the world's fisheries," said WWF's Dr Sergi Tudela, who attended the meeting as an official observer. "This failure of ICCAT contracting parties to do the right thing is effectively an encouragement of illegal fishing, since capacity far oversteps quota."
"The only way now to guarantee a reduction in fishing effort and facilitate real stock recovery is to impose a ban during the month of June when the bulk of catches are taken," added Tudela. "The management of bluefin simply must be included on the agenda of the ICCAT Regular Meeting in Turkey in November."
The meeting of the ICCAT Working Group on Capacity took place in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA from July 16-18.
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