Malta's blue fin fishing quota slashed
Malta's fishing quota for blue fin tuna has been slashed to 161 tonnes for next year.
The decision was taken at a meeting of EU ministers responsible for fisheries which ended yesterday in Brussels. Quotas have been cut across the EU as part of a recovery plan as agreed at a meeting in Brasil of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT).
Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino, who represented Malta, said he was backing a call by Italy for the European Commission to provide new financial measures to cushion the socio-economic impact of the reduction of the quota.
The Rural Affairs Ministry said the Maltese government was showing it was committed to measures for the sustainability of Blue Fin tuna.
The quota has been going down steadily, having been 331 tonnes in 2008 and 262 tonnes this year.
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DVella
Dec 16th 2009, 13:32
Too little . . . too late ! ! ! At this point the stocks are probably so decimated by overfishing and illegal fishing that anything short of a full ban can not guarantee recovery of the species . . . and even then, it will be touch and go!
Neil Sant
Dec 16th 2009, 12:12
A desperately needed measure indeed. I hope it is enforced because at its current levels, bluefin fishing is simply unsustainable. A population crash could harm larger predators who feed on them, as well as clearing the way for smaller species of fish to thrive, to the detriment of the ecosystem as a whole.
Matthew Borg
Dec 16th 2009, 12:01
A decision that is desperately needed to safeguard such an overexploited fish.
adrian Wirth
Dec 16th 2009, 11:33
One trusts steps are in place to prevent live captive stocks of Blue Fin Tuna held in E.U. waters from being exported to non-E.U. states such as Tunisia thus avoiding the ban.
There are suspicions that in previous years when quotas were exceeded that a number of tuna nets containing live stocks were removed out of Maltese waters within 48 hours of the expiry of the quota.
Perhaps the E.U. Commission's office in Malta might wish to comment on both these matters. If not then no doubt the Fisheries Commission Directorate in Brussels will surely hold documentary proof of the licence to Export those live stocks.
mike farrugia
Dec 16th 2009, 11:01
it seems that Joe borg is having the last laugh after all!