The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has come under tremendous pressure from all sides to safeguard the Mediterranean’s dwindling bluefin tuna stocks continued to mount last week when Italian fishers endorsed a fishing moratorium as “the lesser of all evils” and Spanish legislators called on their government to take the lead in establishing sanctuaries in key tuna spawning areas.
Italian fishers and Spanish legislators have started new moves just three weeks before an International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting in Morocco to consider new management rules for the fishery. They also follow an internal ICCAT review labeling the fisheries management “an international disgrace” and calling for its temporary closure.
According to a key ICCAT member there is a need to adopt strong negotiating mandate for the European Commission which could support closure by the EU Fisheries Council. Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean, informed that these signs from Italy and Spain are just the latest in a litany of calls for the closure of the imperilled Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery.
WWF report revealed rampant violations of the tuna fishery rules by the Italian fleet. Tudela told that both a suspension of fishing and the creation of sanctuaries in main spawning areas will be key to the sustainable management of bluefin tuna in these troubled waters. It has been approved by Spain’s Parliament of the proposal for bluefin tuna sanctuaries south of the Balearics, in the Central Mediterranean, and in the Levant Sea, the world’s three most important spawning grounds for bluefin tuna.
