Responsible, strict bluefin tuna fishery

In reply to George Camilleri's letter entitled Bluefin Tuna Could Well Become Extinct (December 12) I would like to reply as briefly as possible as it is clear that we are never going to agree as our approach is totally different.

Policies for the conservation of exploitable aquatic species must take into account socio-economic implications as laid out even by several international legal instruments such as the Law of the Sea, The United Nations Code for Responsible Fishing and Aquaculture and others.

It is not even that easy to say that the complete closing down of the fishery of one species such as that of the predatory bluefin tuna is a wise thing to do as the food web in the marine environment is much more complex than that and an integral part of conservation measures is to maintain stable equilibria between the various trophic levels of the food web.

It is also important not to confuse the eastern with the western stocks of the bluefin tuna as the conservation status and the level of exploitation of these two are quite different.

Various facts mentioned in the said letter are news to me. To my knowledge, no reliable published sources exist that state that ICCAT's scientists recommended a 10-year global ban on tuna fishing nor that bluefin tuna now qualifies as an endangered species.

As to whether there is a 100 per cent chance that this species will become extinct, I would like to remind readers that as long ago as 1991, Sweden proposed the listing of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna on the CITES convention and yet in 2009, ICCAT's own scientists concluded that the wild population of Eastern Atlantic Bluefin is not considered small (estimated numbers greater than three million for bluefin tuna over one year old), nor is its distribution restricted (distributed throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean).

It has to be said that even the ICCAT secretariat found it necessary, in a rare move, to publicly criticise those extremist international NGOs who tried to hijack the conclusions of the recent SCRS meeting (which discussed the criteria for CITES listing) by disseminating partial interpretations of the report of the scientific meeting .

Finally, I reiterate that I have always advocated that extreme caution needs to be exerted in the sustainable management of this delicate fishery. Total compliance with current ICCAT directives is a must and should be enforceable at all costs.

These days controls are extremely strict and leave no room for abuse. The stakeholders realise the need for such strict measures and are strictly adhering to them in search of a sustainable way forward.