European Union mutually gave consent to step up protection of dwindling bluefin tuna stocks and fight illegal fishing, but stopped short of a fishing ban demanded by environmental groups. Fisheries ministers of the European Union met in Lusembourg and called on the European Commission to push for a series of measures at a key international meeting next month on tuna, which are particularly threatened in the Mediterranean.
French Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said that the ministers want to move towards a much more rigorous management of this fragile species. He added that the EU countries were ready to see lower quotas, which are to be set at a regional level by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which meets in Marrakech, Morocco, on November 17-24.
In the meeting the ministers agreed to accept a shorter fishing season as well as stepped-up controls all along the process, from fishing to fattening in cages to bringing the fish to market. It was in mid-June the European Commission ordered a halt to industrial fishing of bluefin tuna two weeks early, because quotas for 2008 had already been reached.
Saskia Richartz, Greenpeace EU oceans policy director, told that the ministers of France, Italy and Spain have shown they are incapable of keeping illegal fishing for bluefin tuna under control. Only a suspension of fishing can bring the bluefin tuna back from the brink of collapse.
