Malta to battle tuna quota cut proposal
Tuna dispute hotting up
Malta will team up with other Mediterranean member states to oppose plans to cut bluefin tuna quotas again next year following a fresh proposal by the EU Executive yesterday.
The proposal, which gives the Commission an “open-mandate” to negotiate on behalf of member states a reduction in bluefin quotas for 2011, will be put for the approval of member states today during a meeting of EU ambassadors.
The decision will be taken ahead of next week’s global negotiations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) in Paris.
Despite the opposition of all EU member states during a ministerial meeting a few days ago, the Commission forged ahead with a proposal to reduce tuna quotas, although the original draft by Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has been watered down in view of opposition by other commissioners.
Sources close to the Commission said, originally, Ms Damanaki wanted to slash this year’s quota of 13,500 to 6,000 tons in 2011. However, the proposal found strong resistance from many commissioners, including Malta’s John Dalli, and by the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso whose country, Portugal, also has a thriving tuna industry.
The sources said the French, Italian and Spanish commissioners also opposed the original plans forcing Ms Damanaki to come up with a more “realistic” proposal.
Still, the new proposal plans to give an open mandate to the Commission to negotiate a “reduction” of quotas without giving any figures.
“This will give the Commission flexibility during next week’s ICCAT negotiations although the original plan to cut by more than half next year’s bluefin catches is now out of the question,” the sources said.
In a diplomatically-worded statement, Ms Damanaki referred to the scientific reports warning of a collapse of tuna stocks due to overfishing. “The European position should be based on a precautionary approach,” she said.
Despite the compromising gesture by the Commission, Mediterranean member states are still expected to oppose the plans although it is not yet clear whether they will be able to block the proposal.
The Maltese industry, which over the past five years built the biggest ranching facilities in the Mediterranean, has already suffered a massive blow in its quotas, which, this year amounted to 161 tons, down from over 400 tons in 2007.
Environmental lobby groups argue that, if no further cuts are introduced, tuna will disappear from the Mediterranean in a few years’ time.