According to the European Commission the decision has been taken to close the fishery for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic as of June 16 for all purse seiners flying the flags of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy and Malta. It is said that the overcapacity in the purse seine fleet has not been addressed and the level of fishing activity is similar to that seen last year, when the Community considerably overfished its quota.
After assessing all the data the European Commission has established that the EU purse seine fleet has now exhausted its quota. The EC said that this year again, the fishery has been marred by countless failures to properly implement the rules which have been agreed at international level to manage the Bluefin tuna stock sustainably.
Despite these facts, there are some Member States who have nevertheless asked for the closure of the fishery to be suspended. The Commission states that the many failures of implementation and control made it difficult for the Member States to monitor their own fleets’ Bluefin tuna catches accurately. The Commission said that the decision to close the fishery only for the purse seine fleet is not only necessary to protect the stock and to respect the Community’s international obligations. The decision is also vital to ensure fairness with the small-scale artisanal fleet that has not yet fished its quota.
It is fact that the Bluefin tuna stock has suffered greatly from many years of overfishing, in particular by the European industrial fleet. If this continue then it could easily lead to the collapse of the stock, and thus to the definitive closure of the fishery for the foreseeable future, with disastrous consequences to all the fleets and fishermen that depend on it.
