Brussels to decide on tuna quotas by end of month

Maltese fishermen should by the end of this month learn the precise tonnage of bluefin tuna they will be allowed to catch this year.

Malta's quota currently stands at 344 tonnes a year. The decision will be taken by the European Commission following the conclusions of a meeting in Kobe, Japan, scheduled to start next week.

Commission sources told The Times the EU executive is awaiting the results of talks to be held on the total EU quota emerging from the Japan meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) before distributing its quota between its member states.

"Following the decisions in Japan, in which the EU is only one out of 41 parties, we are planning to meet in the last week of January to distribute the EU quota between our member states. "However, the quota will be reduced, as already agreed in November, in order to implement a recovery plan for this endangered fish, and that will mean that Maltese fishermen will also have a smaller quota," the sources said.

Maltese fishermen are up in arms against the Commission's decision to reduce bluefin tuna catches in the Mediterranean, saying this will mean a big blow to their livelihood.

The government has taken the fishermen's side and criticised the European Commission's Fisheries Directorate, headed by Maltese Commissioner Joe Borg. It has called on the Commission not to reduce Malta's tuna quota.

The sources said the Commission was going ahead with its plans and is adamant that a recovery plan in this sector must be implemented over the next four years.

They said all scientific evidence shows that if nothing is done, bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean might disappear.

According to the sources, the Commission is planning a 10 per cent cut in quotas to all the member states concerned. This will be increased gradually to 25 per cent over the coming years.