Bluefin tuna gets scant relief at fisheries meet

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 27 Nov 10;

PARIS (AFP) – Fishing nations opted Saturday to leave catch limits for eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna virtually unchanged despite concerns that the species is perilously close to collapse.

Annual quotas for the sushi mainstay will be trimmed from 13,500 tonnes this year to 12,900 tonnes in 2011, the 48-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decided at the close of a 10-day meeting in Paris.

Some nations here favoured a much lower cap, or even a suspension of fishing, to ensure bluefin's long-term viability.

But industry representatives and the governments that back them insisted the new catch limits were sufficient.

"They will make it possible to reach maximum sustainable yield by 2022, which represents a balance between respecting natural resources and preserving the social-economic fabric," said Bruno Le Maire, France's agriculture and fisheries minister in a statement.

ICCAT scientists calculate that the new catch levels will put eastern Atlantic bluefin on track for a 70 percent chance of reaching sustainability by that date.

The same scientists, however, caution that the data upon which these estimates are based is spotty at best, while conservationists counter that a 30 percent risk of failure is too high.

The head of the Japanese delegation, Masanori Miyahara, told AFP he was satisfied with the outcome, but said stronger compliance measures were needed.

"The actual catch level will be around 11,000, which is a large reduction off current levels," he added, noting that some members had pledged not to use up their quotas.

Japan is the world's top consumer of bluefin buying up more than 80 percent of all the fish taken from the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic.

The United States, which had pushed for a sharper reduction, expressed disappointment.

"I can't say that we acted in as precautionary a manner as I would have liked," said Russell Smith, a Department of Commerce official and head of the US delegation.

Currently, eastern Atlantic bluefin are at 85 percent of historical levels and 30 percent of "maximum sustainable yield", the target for recovery.

Green groups reacted angrily.

"This outcome confirms that the bluefin's days are numbered and has demonstrated ICCAT's inability to act on its own mandate," said Greenpeace International oceans campaigner Oliver Knowles.

"The word 'conservation' should be removed from ICCAT's name."

Going into the meeting, the European Union -- allocated more than half the annual catch -- was sharply divided.

Fishing nations led by France pushed to maintain the status quo, even as the EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki said they should be slashed to 6,000 tonnes.

A backdoor attempt by France, meanwhile, to stretch out payments of its "tuna debt"-- incurred in 2007 when it surpassed a national quota of 5,000 tonnes by more than 100 percent -- failed.

A proposal submitted on its behalf by Morocco was shot down in the final plenary.

As things stand, France's bluefin haul for 2011 could drop from about 2,000 to 500 tonnes, barely enough to keep a handful of commercial vessels busy during the one- or two-month long fishing season.

Sue Lieberman of the Pew Environment Group said current quotas did not take into account ICCAT's history of mismanagement.

"It ignores all the evidence of fraud, illegal fishing and laundering," she said.

The 30-page "recovery plan" adopted by ICCAT includes several new measures to combat these problems, including a Japanese proposal whereby each country's ability to monitor and police its catches would be first submitted to ICCAT's compliance committee for approval.

"We have to do many things to ensure compliance before the fishing season starts," Miyahara said.

The plan also bans for the first time multi-nation fishing operations by countries with sizable tuna fleets, a technique that has been used to disguise excess catches.

Bleak future for bluefin as tuna commission only marginally trims catches
WWF 27 Nov 10;

Paris, France - "Wilfully blind" members of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) have left Mediterranean bluefin tuna still on a trajectory of collapse, WWF said as the commission's annual meeting closed in Paris with only marginal cuts to catch levels.

With more than four decades of failure behind it protecting the bluefin fisheries under its care, ICCAT today agreed to trim catch quotas by only 600 tonnes compared to the more than 6000 tonnes needed to just even the odds of saving the species.

“Greed and mismanagement have taken priority over sustainability and common sense at this ICCAT meeting when it comes to Atlantic bluefin. This measly quota reduction is insufficient to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of WWF Mediterrean’s Fisheries Programme.

Key countries backed away from commitments to ensure a sustainably managed fishery, leaving only one brighter spot - the meeting declined to rubberstamp another amnesty to fishing nations required under ICCAT rules to pay back past overfishing against future catches.

"Doha commitment" promises come to nothing

The so called "Doha commitments" were made by key ICCAT member states including the EU, Japan and the US after key bluefin tuna market after key bluefin tuna market Japan orchestrated a vote against proposals to introduce the highest level of trade restrictions for bluefin tuna at the March meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The outcome of the Paris meeting recalls ICCAT's action in the 1990s, where promises and concessions on catches were made in the face of threats to refer the collapsing western Atlantic bluefin tuna to CITES, only to be followed by a hard line on reducing catches once the danger of referral to CITES had passed.

Under pressure from the Mediterranean fishing industry and countries benefiting from the highly profitable trade of the sushi favourite red-fleshed bluefin tuna, ICCAT today also held back other efforts to regulate the fishery in the Mediterranean, where the eastern Atlantic population of bluefin tuna migrates to spawn.

“After years of observing ICCAT and countless opportunities to do the right thing, it is clear to us that the commission’s interests lie not in the sustainable harvesting of bluefin tuna but in pandering to short-term business interests," Dr Tudela said. "There have been no effective measures implemented here to deal with widespread illegal and unreported fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.”

Recent investigations have shown the high levels of non-compliance and rule-bending still rife across the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery. While there are observers on vessels there is a lot of guess work involved, and control measures were not significantly improved at the Paris ICCAT meeting.

“ICCAT members are wilfully blind to the fact that failing to reduce fishing quotas to precautionary levels recommended by science will logically result in the lack of recovery of the species. Before this meeting WWF asked whether ICCAT wants to remain ineffective or help save bluefin tuna. The answer is becoming all too clear,” said Tudela.

WWF welcomed the decision to finally respect the so-called payback regulations, meaning that countries which have overfished would see their quotas reduced accordingly in future to compensate. This application of fishing rules is crucial in Europe at a time when the EU is reforming its common fisheries policy and has pledged to follow science and slash illegal fishing.

In 2007 France fished well over 10,000 tonnes, while in 2011 its quota will be less than 1,000 after payback. France’s 2011 quota should be allocated among artisanal fleets rather than the industrial purse seine vessels that are responsible for the massive overfishing in the recent past.

WWF is urging that capacity reduction measures put in place today also focus on cutting purse seiners. The new rules dictate that within three years boat capacity in the Mediterranean – currently far too high – should be aligned with fishing quotas. While current figures for boat numbers underestimate real capacity, this is a positive move.

Coming into the meeting ICCAT’s chairman Dr Fabio Hazin talked of “the obligation to respect science” and expressed “confidence and consequent optimism” that countries would “act responsibly and adopt measures needed to ensure sustainability” of fish stocks. But ICCAT members countries have fallen short of this expectation.

“Everyone talked of respecting science and wanting to adopt measures to ensure recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, but the measures adopted today are highly risky given the dire status of bluefin tuna stocks and all the blanks and unknowns in the current data gathering and analysis,” said Dr Tudela of WWF.

ICCAT has for years failed to implement recovery and sustainable management of the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean Sea.

WWF, an observer at the negotiations during the ICCAT meeting, was calling on governments to end rule-bending and impunity for illegal fishing, and urging the inter-governmental body to implement a science-based management plan that will allow the Atlantic bluefin tuna to recover.

WWF was also calling for the establishment of no-fishing sanctuaries in the six identified spawning grounds in the Mediterranean Sea, but this suggestion was removed entirely from the agenda.

A proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna through a listing on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was defeated in Doha, Qatar last March. But the main harvesting and consuming countries of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna, the EU and Japan – as well as Norway, Canada and the U.S. – promised to lead in getting sustainable and science-based fisheries management measures adopted at this year’s ICCAT meeting.

Japan in particular opposed the CITES listing and stressed that ICCAT was the place to sustainably manage Atlantic bluefin tuna and that countries would show the world ICCAT is capable of ensuring the recovery of the species.

“WWF is disappointed the Doha commitments were not respected here in Paris. We had high hopes that Japan especially would take leadership at this ICCAT meeting in putting in place sustainable and precautionary management measures for bluefin tuna as well as enforcing strict compliance,” said Dr Aiko Yamauchi, Fisheries Officer at WWF-Japan. “The results fall short of our high expectations, in spite of fresh evidence of widespread rule-breaking again this year. We are urging Japan to strictly enforce compliance rules.”

ICCAT’s scientists will next assess bluefin tuna stocks in the East Atlantic in 2012, when they vow to address the uncertainties in data to ensure recommendations are clearer. Data quality must improve but also the methodologies employed to analyse figures. WWF will work with scientists to optimise the process during the next two years.

Fishing nations criticised over deal on bluefin tuna
BBC News 27 Nov 10;

Fishing nations have agreed a small cut in Atlantic bluefin tuna quotas, after meeting in Paris.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) set the 2011 quota at 12,900 tonnes, down from 13,500 tonnes.

Conservationists say the bluefin tuna is threatened by overfishing, and much deeper cuts are needed.

They have criticised ICCAT in the past for failing to ensure that the species and others are fished sustainably.

Correspondents say the 48 countries represented at the talks were divided over what action to take, with some calling for a lower quota or even a temporary suspension of bluefin fishing to allow stocks to recover.

But industry representatives and the governments that back them said the limits agreed at the meeting were sufficient.

"The actual catch level will be around 11,000, which is a large reduction from current levels," the head of the Japanese delegation, Masanori Miyahara, said, adding that some members had promised not to use up their quotas.

The decision was criticised by Sue Lieberman, policy director of the US-based Pew Environment Group.

"Despite sound science to show how threatened these species are... Atlantic bluefin tuna once again were denied the protection they desperately need," she said.

"ICCAT member governments had more than enough information to act decisively. They failed to do so."

Pacific group seeks 30 percent cut in tuna catch
Yahoo News 26 Nov 10;

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) – An influential group of Pacific fishing nations called Saturday for a near-30 percent cut in next year's tuna catch next year as concern about over-fishing increases.

The eight members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) group control waters where a quarter of the world's tuna is caught.

At a meeting in Majuro, in the Marshall Islands, they agreed to cut licensed fishing days from 40,000 to 28,469 next year.

"There is more urgency than ever to protect fish stocks in the Pacific," said Marshall Islands Resources Minister Mattlan Zackhras.

"If we don't do anything as the resource owners, then we're not doing our part for future generations to benefit from the resource."

The PNA nations -- Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu -- operate a system known as the "vessel day scheme", selling "fishing days" instead of licensing a set number of vessels to fish in the region.

But during the three years the scheme has been in place the scattering of tiny nations has had difficulty enforcing it, reducing its effectiveness for conservation.

"The islands have set hard limits but have had difficulty in actually doing it," said Phil Roberts of Tri-Marine International, one of the world's largest suppliers of tuna, who attended the talks in Majuro.

"The proposal to cut to 28,000 fishing days in 2011 means they will have to cut back a lot of boats. If they don't, they will never get fishing under control."

Zackhras said there is determination to reduce the level of fishing as research showed bigeye and yellowfin tuna -- favourites for Japan's sushi and sashimi markets -- are being overfished.

"There is a strong commitment from all countries," Zackhras said. "We will see a lot of changes in the coming year."

Piracy sidelines third of Taiwan's Indian Ocean tuna fleet
Yahoo News 26 Nov 10;

PARIS (AFP) – More than a third of Taiwan's tuna-fishing fleet in the Indian Ocean has been scared off by the threat of piracy, according to Taiwanese delegates at a fisheries meeting underway in Paris.

Sixty-six of 141 vessels equipped to fish bigeye tuna "have ceased their operations due to the escalating situation," noted a document submitted by Taiwan to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ICCAT).

"The escalation of piracy ... has severely undermined the livelihood of the fishermen concerned and affected the legitimate operation of the industry," it said.

Since 2009, three Taiwan-flagged vessels and their crews have been hijacked by pirates from Somalia.

One, the Wen Fa No 161, was detained for more than 10 months and was released in February 2010 "only after paying a huge ransom," the document said.

Two other vessels, the Jih Chun Tsai No. 68 and the Tai Yuan No. 227, along with their crews, "are still held by pirates," it said.

To compensate for the lost business, Taiwan is seeking permission to "transfer" 15 of the mothballed fishing vessels from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic.

The 48-member ICCAT, meeting in Paris through Saturday, is charged with setting the rules and quotas for fisheries in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, including all species of commercially-fished tunas.

The transfer would be limited to 2010 and 2011, the proposal said.

"Once the problem of piracy is resolved, or the period is expired, the vessels ... will return to the Indian Ocean," it said.

The main focus of the Paris meeting is the plight of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which has been fished to the brink of viability.

Bigeye is more plentiful, but conservationists say stricter quotas should be put in place now for this species as well to avoid the future collapse of stocks.