Logo-FiskerForum
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newbuildings
    • News Categories
      • News
      • Accidents – Shipwreck
      • Administration
      • Aquaculture
      • Associations
      • Economy
      • Education
      • End User – Food
      • Environment
      • Exhibitions
      • Fish Species
      • Fishing
      • Manufacturers
      • Story
      • Politics
      • Ports
      • Products
      • Regions
      • Research
      • Sponsored
      • Videos
    • News Service
    • News Archive
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
  • Vessels
    • Vessels
    • Recent Photos
    • Newbuild
    • Newbuild delivered
  • Service
    • Contact
    • Oil Prices
    • Auction Prices
    • Weather
    • News Service
    • Media Information
  • Industry Directory
  • Recent photos
Menu
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newbuildings
    • News Categories
      • News
      • Accidents – Shipwreck
      • Administration
      • Aquaculture
      • Associations
      • Economy
      • Education
      • End User – Food
      • Environment
      • Exhibitions
      • Fish Species
      • Fishing
      • Manufacturers
      • Story
      • Politics
      • Ports
      • Products
      • Regions
      • Research
      • Sponsored
      • Videos
    • News Service
    • News Archive
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
  • Vessels
    • Vessels
    • Recent Photos
    • Newbuild
    • Newbuild delivered
  • Service
    • Contact
    • Oil Prices
    • Auction Prices
    • Weather
    • News Service
    • Media Information
  • Industry Directory
  • Recent photos

Four Indian Ocean states want balanced tuna catch reductions within IOTC


  • May 7, 2022
  • Quentin Bates
  • Dato: 07/05/2022
  • kl. 00:06
  • Kategori: Associations, Fisheries Management
  • Tags: Europêche, Indian Ocean, IOTC, Tuna
  • Land: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, The Seychelles

ANNONCER

Fisheries Ministers from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles met at the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) Fisheries Ministerial Summit, where they analysed the potential socio-economic impact that some of the proposals made by other governments for the 26th session of IOTC (16-20 May) could have on their coastal communities.

Ministers also met representatives of Europêche’s Tuna Group (AGAC/OPAGAC, ORTHONGEL, and ANABAC who joined the group) to address the situation of tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean. The sector stressed during the summit the substantial contribution from the Indian Ocean purse seine fleet to the local economies of the IOC countries.

Out of the 42 purse seiners operating in the area, 13 fly the Seychellois flag and three the Mauritian flag. These vessels fish, land, use port facilities, shipyards and canneries of IOC countries, creating jobs across the whole fishery supply chain.

Fisheries Ministers from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles met tuna sector representatives. Image: Europêche

‘When tourism collapsed during Covid, the economy relied on the tuna purse seine activity,’ said Philippe Michaud, consultant at the Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy, who hosted the meeting in Seychelles, commenting that fishing companies continued to send crew, chartered flights at their own costs, kept their vessels fishing and supplied local canneries, despite the global pandemic crisis.

The common declaration signed by the four ministers after a closed session in the afternoon recognises the importance of strengthening cooperation amongst the IOC countries dependent on the purse seine fishery for their canneries through coherence and coordinated approach for safeguarding their economic dependency and in the management of tuna fisheries.

The tuna sector argued that while the Seychellois and European purse seine fleets operating in the Indian Ocean have endured a reduction of more than 22% of their catches since 2014, some other IOTC countries which are among the biggest harvesters have objected to the yellowfin rebuilding plan amended in 2021.

‘With countries like Oman, which caught around 7000 tonnes of yellowfin tuna in 2014 and reported nearly 70,000 tonnes of catches in 2020, it is no wonder why the stock keeps declining,’ said Anne-France Mattlet, Director of Europêche’s Tuna Group.

‘This also explains why IOTC overall catches increased by 6% despite the tuna purse seine fleet’s hefty reduction in effort. IUU practices, such as the use of large-scale drift nets, forbidden by the UN in 1991 and reiterated by IOTC in 2017, are ongoing in the Indian Ocean and some IOTC countries are ignoring the perverse effects of those gears in the ecosystems.’

Yet, for the 26th session of IOTC, countries such as Maldives and Kenya are turning a blind eye to these threats to the stock’s sustainability and propose instead to reduce purse seine yellowfin and skipjack catches by an additional 20% respectively.

They also insist on imposing a three-month closure to the FAD fishery, without any scientific assessment of the FAD reductions that already took place in the last few years. Houmed M’Saidie, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment in Comoros, stressed that ‘Proposals should be science-based’.

The four Ministers agreed on the fact that ‘all fishing gears targeting tuna have an effect on the population and the ecosystem and therefore all shall contribute in a balanced and equal proportion to any reduction decided at IOTC.’

 

Besøg os på
Seneste Nybygninger

New Cleopatra 36 for Lofoten fisherman

Christian í Grótinum delivered to Klaksvík owners

New factory trawler for Icelandic owners

Orion BF-432, latest Macduff newbuild

PrevForrige nyhedThird Norebo trawler rolled out at Northern Shipyard
Næste nyhedNorwegian cod fetches record pricesNext

FAD ban could jeopardise thousands of jobs

Cap Nord heading for South Africa

Eliminating products of forced labour from EU markets

Shift in Danish pelagic sector as Ruth’s owners leave fishing

ANNONCER

Contact info

  • +45 60 22 09 46
  • info@fiskerforum.com
  • Otto Pedersvej 1
    6960 Hvide Sande
    Denmark

News

  • Latest News
  • Newbuildings
  • News Service
  • Know anything?
  • News in Danish

Service

  • Vessels
  • Classifieds (coming)
  • Jobs (coming)
  • Oil Prices
  • Auction Prices
  • Media Information

News Archive

  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015

News Service

Facebook-f Twitter Youtube
Logo-FiskerForum

All pictures, texts and data on FiskerForum are protected by Danish copyright law. All rights belong or are handled by FiskerForum.com on behalf of the associated photographers. It is not allowed to copy or use texts, data or pictures from FiskerForum without permission. © 2004 - 2019

Made with love by ApolloMedia

Terms and conditions Cookie & Privacy Policy

By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

Accept