NCMC logo - National Coalition for Marine Conservation     National Coalition for Marine Conservation

search
 powered by FreeFind

e-mail us
e-mail us


NCMC
4 Royal St. SE
Leesburg, VA 20175
USA
ph 703-777-0037
fax 703-777-1107


conservation news tab for page on conserving swordfish, billfish, sharks and other ocean fish  

 

JULY 28, 2008

PIRATES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

The indecision that for years has paralyzed the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) as a conservation body spread to the relatively routine task of choosing a site for the November 2008 annual meeting. Just four months before the November 17-24 session, the commission finally settled on Marrakech, Morocco.

We must say, gathering on the Barbary Coast does seem appropriate, what with the plight of bluefin tuna at center stage this year. The Mediterranean Sea is once again a haven for piracy, although today we call it illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. The Spanish, French and Italian fleets are among the worst offenders.

ICCAT’s scientific advisors warned two years ago that a total catch above 15,000 metric tons risked collapsing the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock of severely over-exploited bluefin. The Europeans and North Africans, however, backed a quota of nearly twice that many fish. In recent years, the true catch has been close to 50,000 tons. The European Union closed its purse seine fishery early this summer, but not before agreed-upon limits already had been exceeded. New ICCAT control measures, supposed to rein in the rampant overages, failed, largely due to overcapacity.

The ABCs of Bluefin Recovery

For these reasons, the United States delegation to ICCAT has supported a moratorium on harvesting bluefin in the east. If that position is repeated this year, it should be expanded to include the west, too, given the dire condition of both stocks. Although the two stocks mix on foraging grounds, their spawning components are separate and distinct. The number of eastern spawners, who breed in the Mediterranean, is below 50% of the early ‘70s level but dropping fast due to unrestrained fishing. The western stock, which spawns in the Gulf of Mexico, is even worse off, at less than 20%, despite U.S. compliance with ICCAT quotas.

But realistically, if that’s going to be Plan A, we need a Plan B. We propose the U.S.:

  • Introduce a binding resolution requiring that the allowable biological catch (ABC) for all fisheries must be based on the scientific advice.

  • Support a closure of bluefin spawning grounds in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico to purse seines and longlines during breeding season.

  • Advocate for a no-fishing zone in the Central Atlantic, e.g., extending 10 degrees longitude on each side of the line that divides the western and eastern stocks (45 degrees west meridian), until new boundaries are drawn that account for mixing.

If something approaching the above is not agreed to by ICCAT in 2008, there is a Plan C, as in CITES. The U.S. should propose listing Atlantic bluefin tuna under Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and close the global market that is driving bluefin—and ICCAT—to the edge.

                                                                 
President, NCMC             
_______________________________________________________________

 

© 1999-2008 National Coalition for Marine Conservation
4 Royal Street SE, Leesburg, VA 20175  USA
All Rights Reserved

ocean wave