According to the report Spanish fleets have caught the equivilent of 86 percent (2170 tonnes) of their allocated quota. Until 30 August, fleets of pole and line fishing vessels and longliners in the Strait of Gibraltar, had captured 232,150 kg and 65,116 kg respectively. During 2010, the Spanish quota for bluefin tuna amounted to 2,526 tonnes, almost 40 percent less than the figure established for 2009 (4,116 tonnes).
There is a reduction in catch this year which was agreed last year by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), which decided to reduce the share of the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean from 22,000 tonnes to 13,500 tonnes, due to the critical status of biomass.
However, there is good news this season as a team of researchers from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), succeeded in transferring some 60 juvenile bluefin tuna born in captivity from their labs in San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia), to multiple fattening cages located offshore in the Bay of el Gorguel (Cartagena). The specimens were 50 days old and an average weight of around 20 grams, and were bred in facilities at the Oceanographic Centre in Murcia.
