According to the EU ministers threatened bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean would be reduced. The common position reached ahead of an international meeting on the conservation of Atlantic tuna next month. Fisheries ministers, meeting in Luxembourg requested the European Commission press for greater protection for the tuna at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, from 17-24 November.
The ministers have gave their common consent on accepting reduced quotas for the tuna, a shortened fishing season and increased controls, but ruled out a complete ban. Saskia Richartz, Greenpeace EU oceans policy director, said that the ministers of France, Italy and Spain have shown they are incapable of keeping illegal fishing for bluefin tuna under control. He opined that only a suspension of fishing can bring the bluefin tuna back from the brink of collapse.
The ministers also agreed to a reduction in the western Baltic cod catch of 15 percent this year. Meanwhile, there will be a rise in the amount of eastern Baltic cod catch of 15 percent. The Baltic plaice catch is said to be reduced by five percent. However, environmentalists were sceptical that there should be any deepwater fishery given the fragility of species at such depths. They said that given the longevity and low reproductive rate of deep-sea fish, fishing for deep-sea fish is like hunting elephants as if they were rabbits.
