en | fr | es |    Press releases10.03.2009

Bluefin tuna: EU delivers death blow to ailing bluefin tuna

This evening the European Parliament will debate a proposed regulation to Council concerning "a multi-annual recovery plan" for dwindling bluefin tuna stocks in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. Green MEP Raül Romeva is a member of the EP fisheries committee, draftsman for the proposal for a new control regulation for the Common Fisheries Policy and attended the most recent meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) in November last year. He commented: 

"Let's not pretend otherwise –the so-called recovery plan for bluefin tuna stocks will actually sound a death knell for these fish in our seas and oceans. This was the inevitable conclusion of a blind lack of political responsibility by EU governments and the EU Commission and the near suicidal policy by parts of the fishing sector. The question is no longer if bluefin stocks can recover but when exactly the last of these fish will disappear from our waters. 

ICCAT has well earned its nickname as the International Commission to Catch All Tuna and the EU has played its part in today's dire situation. While scientific advice was warning of the impending collapse of bluefin stocks, the EU busied itself only with covering up the huge overfishing in its waters and finding ways to avoid paying compensation. (1) 

The last chance was missed when the EU ignored the suggestion at ICCAT to make voluntary reductions beyond the agreed and woefully inadequate reduction in fishing quotas. Our last recourse is to try and include bluefin tuna in the CITES (2) list of species at risk of extinction and see if this can put an end to the international trade of this fish." 

Notes to editors:

(1) According to ICCAT rules, the EU should have had to reduce its quota for 2009 by 5,022 tonnes as "payback" for over-fishing in 2007. Instead, the EU quota has been reduced by 4,020 tonnes over four years. 

(2) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora.