'Status quo on tuna fishing is not an option'

Retaining the status quo on tuna fishing in the Mediterranean was not an option, EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg stressed as a crucial meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas started in Marrakesh, Morocco, yesterday.

The meeting has to come up with a plan to avoid the total collapse of the bluefin tuna, considered by scientists to be on the brink of extinction.

Maltese fishermen, who depend heavily on tuna fishing, vehemently oppose a total ban as this will impinge on their yearly incomes, a position supported by the government.

However, influential environmental lobby groups, particularly the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, is putting pressure on the EU to accept a temporary suspension of fishing "until conditions conductive to the meaningful enforcement of management rules are in place".

Sources close to the European Commission yesterday told The Times that although realistically a total ban was difficult to achieve, it was not being ruled out. "What is sure is that we need tougher measures if this traditional fish is to be saved. It is not a question of whether Maltese fishermen are responsible for overfishing or not. It is a question of whether we want to save tuna. All European fishermen will have to carry part of the problem in their own future interest," the sources said.

Without giving too much information on what the EU, representing all member states, was ready to negotiate, Dr Borg described the week-long meeting as make or break.

"The situation is extremely serious and our action must be equal to these circumstances," Dr Borg warned.

"It is clear that more rigorous measures and stronger application of the current rules are needed. We cannot let things just go on as they are. The status quo is not an option," he said in a strongly worded message.

According to the latest scientific evidence, overfishing of this lucrative fish, used particularly for Japanese delicacies such as sushi and sashimi, has reached unprecedented levels in the last decade and the Mediterranean stock is less than 40 per cent of the level it was in the early 1970s.

One of the main reasons is the overcapacity of purse seine industrial vessels in Europe with a catch capacity of more than three-and-a-half times the catch levels advised by scientists to avoid stock collapse.

Although Maltese fishermen are not considered among the main culprits when it comes to overfishing, the island is considered as a main tuna ranching centre in the Mediterranean with a substantial number of tuna fattening farms.

Despite various attempts by the Commission over the years to control abuse and illegal tuna fishing, the situation is considered to be out of control.

The Commission's decision earlier this year to close the tuna fishing season 15 days earlier than official closure, after reports that quotas had been already overshot, was not well received by the industry.

This decision led a leading Maltese company in the tuna business, ADJ Tuna, to sue the Commission at the European Court of Justice saying the decision was illegal and claiming compensation.