After having been hopeful following the progress made a year ago, French tuna producers’ body Orthongel has come away from the 29th regular meeting of ICCAT disappointed with the lack of further progress on a number of issues.
‘We leave this session feeling truly disappointed. When we warn about exceeding the yellowfin tuna TAC and the need for allocation between CPCs, nothing changes. When the situation deteriorates, it is always the same fleets – the most controlled and regulated – that pay the price, as we did to rebuild the bigeye tuna stock,’ said Orthongel president Xavier Leduc.
‘And when science confirms that the stock has improved, no relaxation of measures is granted. No increase in the TAC, no reduction in a moratorium that has been proven ineffective. This lack of fairness is permanently undermining European purse seine fleets and the thousands of seafarers and workers who depend on them. We call for consistent management, based on science and applied in a balanced manner to all CPCs.’
He commented that apart from the adoption of a recommendation paving the way for a potential management procedure for western Atlantic skipjack tuna, as well as some technical progress (measures related to port state control, register of vessels over 20m), no significant agreement was reached on tropical tunas.
There has been no increase in the bigeye tuna TAC, despite ICCAT Scientific Committee (SCRS) confirming once again this year that bigeye tuna stocks are improving.This is against the backdrop of the European fleet having made considerable efforts to rebuild the stock in recent years, with a reduction of around 50% in catches between 2017 and 2021 for Orthongel members.
No reduction was decided on the 45-day moratorium on FAD fishing, despite the lack of scientific evidence of its benefit to stocks. According to Oerthongel, this measure continues to have significant socio-economic consequences, both for the French and European purse seine fleet and for African canneries that depend directly on their activity.
There is still no TAC allocation for yellowfin tuna, despite the systematic overfishing of the TAC in recent years as the CPCs have failed to agree on a distribution of the yellowfin tuna quota. Orthongel sees this allocation ia a priority in order to ensure compliance with catch levels.
No progress has been made on control and compliance, and Orthongel states that in a session dominated by debates on bluefin tuna, issues such as electronic catch documentation, regional monitoring system, boarding mechanisms and increased observer coverage were not even discussed.
‘Orthongel regrets that the Sub-Commission on Tropical Tuna was unable to reach any decisions this year on issues that are nevertheless essential for French tropical seiners,’ Xavier Leduc said.
‘The organisation hopes that the next intersessional meetings of this subcommittee will make it possible, in a spirit of mutual respect, reason and without dogmatism, to make up for lost time before it is too late for the resource and for those who exploit it today or aspire to exploit it tomorrow.’
