EU MAKES MOVE TO PROTECT ENDANGERED BLUEFIN TUNA
03.1.07 - Leído 162 veces. Enviar esta notaEU fishing fleets may soon be trawling less and less for bluefin tuna, a fish prized by sushi lovers, due to quota cuts and stricter fishing controls designed to stop the species heading for extinction
BRUSSELS, Belgium; March 1, 2007.- In proposals endorsed on Tuesday by the EU’s executive Commission, national fleets would receive lower catches of Mediterranean bluefin tuna in 2007: the first stage of a global deal that aims to conserve the species over the next 15 years.
The countries to be hit hardest are Spain, Italy and France.
Portugal and Malta have smaller allowances, as do Cyprus and Greece. The proposals will now be discussed by EU ministers.
Demand for bluefin tuna is always high since it is particularly popular in sushi and sashimi dishes. Unlike most tunas, bluefin grow slowly and mature late, making them more vulnerable to intensive trawling.
In November, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) — the global body that oversees the rules for tuna fishing — reduced the quota for the amount of tuna that can be landed, but to nowhere near the levels recommended by the body’s own scientists.
The EU was accused by environment groups of blocking a tougher deal and of causing the collapse in the Mediterranean of a fish that grows up to 2 metres long and can fetch US$100,000 because of its value in Japan as a raw delicacy.
The ICCAT deal reduces the annual bluefin fishing quota gradually to 25,500 tonnes in 2010 from the current 32,000 tonnes. ICCAT scientists had called for a cut to 15,000 tonnes.
For 2007, EU fleets will share a quota of some 16,780 tonnes in the Mediterranean within the overall ICCAT quota of 29,500 tonnes. Other countries that trawl these waters for bluefin tuna include Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia — and also Japan.
Environment groups say fishing fleets are moving to Mediterranean waters to catch bluefin tuna since stock numbers of the fish are dangerously low in the Atlantic.
As a result, the species is nearing commercial and ecological extinction in the Mediterranean, they say.
(Reuters)
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