Bluefin fishing. (Photo: AZTI)

CEPESCA deems ICCAT recommendations for bluefin tuna disappointing

SPAIN
Wednesday, November 22, 2017, 21:30 (GMT + 9)

The Spanish Confederation of Fisheries (CEPESCA) deems the conclusions of the 25th Ordinary Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) regarding bluefin tuna disappointing.

The Spanish association considers that the total allowable catch (TAC) of 28,000 tonnes set for this species by the international body is not appropriate to the situation of stock recovery and that the change in its distribution quota is also an unfair sanction to the European fleet.

According to CEPESCA, the entire sector predicted that the TAC could reach 32,000 tonnes, after the scientific reports that confirmed the recovery of this species.

In addition, it believes that the European Union (EU) has not been able to negotiate by allowing ICCAT to modify the allocation keys between the contracting parties despite not having achieved the desired growth.

"This change in the distribution key means that the rest of the countries will receive more quota at the expense of the Europeans’ quota," said Javier Garat, CEPESCA Secretary General.

"The European Commission has failed to adequately defend the interests of the EU and its fishermen, demonstrating that their strategy has been wrong," he added.

In CEPESCA’s opinion, although Europe will have a quota of around 15,850 tonnes in 2018, its catches will decrease 2.4 percentage points, and it is foreseeable that this reduction will be between 5.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent in 2019 and 2020, respectively, in favour of third countries, such as Algeria, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt or Albania. With regard to Spain, in 2018 this country will have a quota of about 5,000 tonnes, compared to the current 4,243 tonnes.

In this regard, and according to CEPESCA, under the current circumstances, there are no adequate conditions to publish the Royal Decree, which has been discussed during the last weeks and would modify the distribution of catches among the different Spanish fleets. It considers that this can be assumed when the current scenario changes.

Finally, as regards bluefin tuna, CEPESCA does not understand that, in light of the data presented by the scientific committee of the ICCAT, this body has decided not to change to a management plan, although there is a commitment to do so by 2019.

Nevertheless, CEPESCA welcomes the agreements reached at the 25th ICCAT meeting for the sustainable management of the swordfish stocks of the North and South Atlantic, which imply measures that guarantee the future stability of stocks and is fundamental for the Spanish longline fleets.

In this sense, and according to the representatives of the Spanish fishing sector participating in the meeting, the adopted measures establish a continuity for a period of four years of the current quota levels, maintaining the same fishing management conditions that have been implemented for some years for these stocks.

To the surface longline fleet, the recommendation of ICCAT is also important for stock management of shortfin mako, as it establishes conditions for the capture and retention of these sharks that will require an important effort to the sector. According to this Recommendation, live specimens arriving on board must be released and only those caught dead in certain conditions of activity may be retained.

With this Recommendation the closure of the fishery is avoided and a certain activity is maintained without setting a TAC, with the forecast of a recovery of this mako population, whose situation will be reviewed by the ICCAT Scientific Committee in 2019.

Regarding the albacore tuna fishery, ICCAT has adopted a Recommendation that improves the fishing possibilities from 28,000 tonnes to 33,600 tonnes, an increase that will mean greater availability of quotas for the Spanish albacore fleet.

Finally, with respect to tropical tuna, ICCAT has adopted a Recommendation to prohibit the tuna discards from purse-seine vessels. According to the Spanish tuna fleet, this Recommendation is in line with national and European practices, which have contributed, for years, to the food security of countries such as Ivory Coast or Senegal. However, it regrets that this obligation does not extend to other fleets, such as Asian longliners, which are allowed to continue discarding tuna.

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