All shipping movements in the Mediterranean will be closely followed by the European Commission over the coming weeks as the tuna fishing season opens today.
Maltese fisherman, as well as those from Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus, this morning started heading out to catch one of the season’s most lucrative species - bluefin.
Fish caught are usually transferred to pens then pulled hundreds of nautical miles to coastal tuna ranches, where they are fattened and exported at very high prices to the Japanese sushi and sashimi market.
This year Maltese fishermen, who mostly still fish for tuna using artisanal long-line methods, can catch up to 160 tons – the quota allocated by EU rules.
Maltese tuna farms, which have flourished around the island’s coasts in past years, can still buy more fish stocks above the island’s quota as long as these are certified as being caught legally.
Until a few years ago, this practice was almost unregulated with fishermen around the Mediterranean allowed to catch as much as they wanted.
However, due to scientific data on dwindling stocks, the EU and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) started imposing strict rules to better manage species while controlling overfishing.
Brussels yesterday said all necessary measures were being taken to ensure the EU fishing fleetfully respected the rules during the main fishing season, which ends on June 14 or earlier if the quota is surpassed.
The EU’s overall quota this year is 5,756 tons – the same as last year – compared to 7,087 in 2010.
Based on the experiences of previous years and taking into account the particularities of this year’s campaign, the Commission will implement a strict control and inspection programme to monitor all aspects of the bluefin tuna fishery and enforce the rules.
The programme involves a significant deployment of inspectors, patrol vessels and aircrafts.
Brussels also monitors catches and analyses Vessel Monitoring System data (a satellite-based control system) on an hourly basis to ensure all rules, and particularly individual vessels’ quotas, are fully respected.
Malta’s tuna industry is very well regarded in Japan – bluefin’s main market – as in a good season the island exports some €80 million worth of fish every year.