Tuna quotas to remain the same in 2011

Malta’s tuna quota in 2011 is to remain unchanged following a decision by the International Commission for the Conservations of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT).

Following fierce opposition from Malta and other EU Mediterranean member states against a European Commission proposal to slash the 2011 quotas, the EU executive yesterday bowed to pressure and agreed to reduce next year’s quotas by just 600 tons to a global figure of 12,900 tons.

Originally, the EU’s Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki proposed to reduce the 2011 quotas to just 6,000 tons. However, many of her Mediterranean colleagues at the college of Commissioners and later the Mediterranean member states opposed her proposals.

Following 10 days of horse-trading at the ICCAT conference in Paris dominated by intense pressure from pro-environment lobby groups, the parties did not manage to agree to further reduce the catches of this lucrative fishery and have settled for a token gesture.

Yesterday’s agreement was harshly criticised by environmentalists who described it as another blow for dwindling bluefin tuna stocks.

“Greed and mismanagement have taken priority over sustainability and common sense at this ICCAT meeting when it comes to bluefin tuna. This measly quota reduction is insufficient to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea,” said Sergi Tudela, head of WWF Mediterranean’s Fisheries Programme.

“After years of observing ICCAT and countless opportunities to do the right thing, it is clear to us that the European Commission’s interests lie not in the sustainable harvesting of bluefin tuna but in pandering to short-term business interests. There have been no effective measures implemented here to deal with widespread illegal and unreported fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean,” Mr Tudela said.

On the other hand, the Maltese tuna industry – which in the past five years has developed the largest tuna ranching facilities in the Mediterranean and warned that cuts in quotas would drive them out of business – welcomed the new deal.

Until four years ago, Malta’s quota amounted to more than 400 tons but in 2010 it was cut to just 161 tons. However, apart from the Maltese quota, tuna farms also fatten hundreds of tons bought on the high seas from foreign fishermen which are towed to Maltese tuna farms in large pens.

The industry claims that it exports some €80 million worth of tuna each year to Japan and employs hundreds of workers. In recent years the industry has become one of the island’s major export-oriented businesses.