European Parliament backs tuna control plans

The European Parliament has approved European Commission plans to control bluefin tuna catches particularly in the Mediterranean. Adopting a consultation report on a Commission proposal for the conservation of certain stocks of highly migratory species, MEPs asked the EU and its member states to urgently introduce control measures to resolve the problem of over-fishing.

The report says that, according to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), current catch levels of bluefin tuna are not sustainable in the long-term. The EU was urged to propose measures to rebuild the stock "as a matter of urgency".

In the report, by Socialist Spanish MEP Rosa Miguelez Ramos, the Parliament called on the Commission and the member states to pursue an active policy to defend these measures in international fora.

At the end of last month, following an ICCAT meeting in Japan, it was decided that the EU will attempt to cut bluefin tuna quotas by 25 per cent over the next four years. Following the meeting, the Commission proposed that Malta's tuna quota for this year will stand at 355 tonnes but will slide to 307 tonnes by 2010.

Initially, Maltese fishermen were up in arms but a compromise reached in Japan has been applauded by the Maltese fishermen organisations.