Swordfish stocks are at critical levels and will never recover if no action is taken, Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation and advocacy organisation has warned.
Oceana yesterday called on EU countries to stop all swordfish fishing in the Mediterranean unless an immediate recovery plan to rebuild stocks is put in place.
Oceana said that the number of Mediterranean swordfish had been reduced by two-thirds in just 30 years, and fresh scientific advice published this week revealed that if no action was taken to stop overfishing, there was zero chance that the stock would recover by itself.
Recent public data has also shown that swordfish fishing fleets and markets were beginning to suffer the economic impact of this loss, Oceana said.
The ultimatum comes in the midst of new scientific advice from international scientists at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which confirmed the critical state of the swordfish fishery in the region.
The scientists have also echoed a call by Oceana to draw up and activate an immediate recovery plan to ensure its existence and to bring the stocks back to sustainable levels.
At the current rate, this was the only alternative to shutting down the fishery, the NGO warned.
“The sharp decline of Mediterranean swordfish will only get worse without a recovery plan that limits catches through a quota system. It really is as clear as this: either the EU fights for a robust recovery plan or it stands to lose swordfish,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director for Oceana in Europe.
As a direct result of the Mediterranean swordfish crisis, this year Malta has already seen its catches down by 25 per cent on the previous year, leading to an internal economic loss of 30 per cent for this fishery, according to statistics published recently by the NSO.
The Maltese government has warned the EU Commission that it will firmly resist the introduction of swordfish quotas.
In a letter sent to EU Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella, the government proposed a series of alternative measures intended to help local swordfish stocks to recover.
These included doubling the closed season from three to six months of every year, and introducing a minimum 7cm hook size from September 1 to March 31.