EU ministers agree on new bluefin tuna quotas

EU fisheries ministers yesterday agreed, at their second attempt in less than a month, to limit fishing for bluefin tuna within the 27-member states' waters to help save the species from extinction.

During a Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg, ministers agreed to scale back this year's quotas by 10 per cent as part of a 15-year plan to help rebuild stocks.

Under the new law, which comes into effect tomorrow, fishermen can catch up to 16,780 metric tons of the fish in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Malta's quota has been set at 355 tonnes for the current season, however, it will go down by 25 per cent in the next four years.

This decision was taken following a warning by the Commission prior to the meeting, that it will be constrained to close the lucrative tuna fishing season this week if no agreement were reached at yesterday's meeting.

Last month, when the proposal was on the table for the first time, ministers failed to agree following opposition by France, Italy and Spain who blocked the deal.

Bluefin tuna is in danger of extinction in the western North Atlantic. Four decades of overfishing compounded by poor enforcement of measures meant to curb illegal fishing have reduced the numbers of spawning bluefin tuna to three per cent of 1960 levels.

Expanding demand for sushi-grade tuna, combined with intense industrial-scale hunts aided by satellites and spotter airplanes have devastated stocks.

An ever-broadening array of hooks, purse seines, harpoons, traps and farm-style pens, in which fish are raised and fattened, are used mainly to cater for the Japanese sushi trade.