In Recife meeting Oceana revealed that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) failed to establish adequate management measures. The meeting was called for commercially valuable bluefin tuna and sharks, whose populations have plummeted over recent decades. It is no doubt that the stock of bluefin tuna is on the verge of collapse and it is due to the greed of the international market and decades of mismanagement and illegal fishing, Atlantic bluefin tuna populations are nearing the point of commercial extinction.
ICCAT agreed to reduce the fishing quota for eastern bluefin tuna for all Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic fleets from 22,000 tons to 13,500 tons as well as one additional month of fishery closure for purse seiners and a promise to close the fishery if the next scientific stock assessment shows a serious risk of collapse for the species.
The way ICCAT manage bluefin tuna called an “international disgrace” by an independent review body. Elizabeth Griffin, marine scientist at Oceana, told that clearly ICCAT has not learned from its mistakes and is willing to let sharks go the way of the bluefin tuna. Max Bello, campaign director for Oceana South America, said that ICCAT chose to put financial and political considerations before the health of our ocean’s top predators. He added that ICCAT’s failure to protect threatened shark species is completely unacceptable.
