Bluefin tuna stocks 'facing collapse'

Stocks of bluefin tuna which partly sustain Malta's penning industry are facing an impending collapse because of rampant over-fishing, Greenpeace oceans campaigner Sebastián Losada warned yesterday.

Politicians were looking the other way when told about this situation, he added.

Speaking aboard the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace flagship vessel currently berthed at the Vittoriosa marina, Mr Losada said that if action was not taken fast, the Mediterranean could see its sizeable bluefin tuna population disappear.

Similar fish stocks have disappeared in a relatively short time, he said, pointing out that the recovery programme for cod, for instance, in Newfoundland, has still not yielded any significant results 15 years on.

Yet, despite the warnings from previous experience and a near-consensus among scientists, governments around the world preferred to opt for cosmetic changes.

Last year, the countries which form part of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) failed to adopt a programme to recover declining tuna stocks as a result of illegal fishing in the Mediterranean region.

Despite the fact that ICCAT scientists were prescribing fishing quotas for the Mediterranean not exceeding 15,000 tonnes, to allow the population to start recovering, last November, the commission approved almost double the quota, 29,500 tonnes for this year.

Control measures were also approved to deal with the high level of illegal catches, Mr Losada noted, but they will not enter into force until after this year's fishing season.

By that time, with the number of ships in the area, bluefin tuna would have been subjected to yet another devastating season.

One of the last healthy bluefin tuna areas in the Mediterranean lies to the north of Libya.

It has been estimated that over 200 purse seins (a large net usually towed by two boats) with a capacity to harvest 35,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna may convene in this area during the coming weeks, indicating the scale of the catches which are likely to take place.

In fact, the Rainbow Warrior will set sail for Libya to document the goings on, as part of its campaign to stop fishing there for the time being.

Its aim is to ensure the creation of a network of marine reserves to protect underwater ecosystem and allow exploited fish stocks to recover.

The team will return towards the end of next month with its findings.

A recent meeting of EU fisheries ministers failed to approve a tuna recovery plan, which sparked threats from the European Commission to close the season.

However, when asked about this, Mr Losada said the "recovery plan" proposed by the EU follows the lines of the ICCAT agreement and is, therefore, far from providing a serious solution.

"The bluefin tuna fishery is totally out of control," he emphasised.

"Governments have shown their complete inability to guarantee the sustainable exploitation of this species, which is essential to Mediterranean ecosystems as well as to the region's economy and culture.

"All fleets should be called back to port. Otherwise, this could be the last year for the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean."