Raül Romeva i Rueda

Last January a bluefin tuna caught off the coast of northeastern Japan, has reached a record high in the first auction of the fish market in Tsukiji, Tokyo, reaching 571,800 euros. The price of this 269kg tuna  beats the previous record of last year to 328,500 euros.

 

This is simply crazy, and shows how big this business is!!

That´s what I have said during today’s debate:

 

Tomorrow, the European Parliament will vote on EU legislation introducing new internationally-agreed rules for the bluefin tuna fishery in European waters. With the bluefin fishery having just opened for 2012, the rules clearly need to be swiftly implemented.

 

In addition to quotas, these rules set out the conditions, practice and equipment for the fishing and farming of this iconic and endangered fish species. Unfortunately, the rules fall far short of what international scientific advice deems is necessary to give this unique, beautiful and highly-prized fish species a decent chance of recovering from its current critically-low stock levels.

The sorry state of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean is well known. Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have declined by up to three-quarters over the past 40 years and, given the long reproductive cycle of fish, the prospects for recovery are not good.

Documented and ‘legal’ overfishing of bluefin has been greatly exacerbated by illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing of this high-value fish. High profile cases of this included last year’s illegal fishing in Libyan waters during the war.

The heavy involvement of organised crime in the fishing and ‘farming’ of bluefin in the Mediterranean is also a major cause for concern.

 

Further more, given the scale of illegal and unreported fishing, it is impossible to get an accurate picture of how many fish are being caught. However, different estimates suggest the amounts being caught are multiples of the actual allowed quotas (which themselves are unsustainable).

 

In that sense, this new legislation, although necessary, represents a missed opportunity for the EU to take meaningful steps to prevent the demise of bluefin.

 

Instead, Europe is continuing to hide behind the fig leaf offered by ICCAT -the international organisation responsible for the fishery-,  or rather its contractual parties.

 

Many of us believe that, ultimately, only a complete ban on commercial fishing would give the species a fighting chance of recovery.

 

Failing that, ICCAT should be agreeing to completely close certain areas for bluefin fishing, particularly during the spawning season, rather than simply adopting half-hearted quotas that are not in line with scientific advice.

 

I tried this with my amendments, but unfortunately the majority of my colleagues didn’t follow me. Bad luck.

 

I believe that the EU, as the main fisher of the stock, must accept a large chunk of responsibility for driving bluefin to the brink.

 

Tougher controls of the fleet and the related industry are also necessary to prevent illegal fishing and over-fishing. The EU must mobilise more resources to this end and assist other ICCAT members that lack the resources for proper enforcement. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean.

 

The EU legislation set to be adopted tomorrow represents the bare minimum and is simply a minimalist implementation of the international ICCAT recovery plan. While there are some slight improvements, as for instance tightening of controls, it still falls far below what scientists believe is necessary to give the bluefin stock a fighting chance of recovery.

 

But here is nothing stopping the EU from adopting more ambitious measures. As the main fisher of the stock, clearly these would make an important difference.

 

The EU will again have the opportunity to push for more stringent quotas and regulations, in line with the scientific recommendations, when ICCAT meets in November this year.

 

However, I insist, as the main fisher, it could also push ahead with more ambitious measures itself.

 

If the EU wants to get serious about saving bluefin, this means closing areas to fishing -particularly during the spawning season- as well as adopting more stringent measures to close some of the loopholes, which exacerbate the over-exploitation of the stock.

 

One measure that would aid recovery would be stricter controls over the size of fish that can be landed. The minimum size under the recovery plan for bluefin tuna is 30kg, but there are exceptions for fish as small as 8kg under certain circumstances. These derogations could be removed for EU vessels.

 

If it is not too late already, there will not be many more chances to prevent the demise of Atlantic bluefin.

 

The EU should jump ahead for once, rather than scrambling to catch up all the time. We need new rules to regulate the fishery, or else we risk losing it.

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At the end of the debate, I made some conclusions (in Spanish):