Collapse predicted: Tuna Quotas Increased

[Seacidal]

Despite risk of collapse, ICCAT increases bluefin tuna quota

Scientists have issued compelling warnings that collapse of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT) stock is imminent.

ICCAT, meeting this week in Turkey, has wasted a precious opportunity to impose some degree of order on a fishery that has spiralled out of control, says WWF.

The 2007 season allegedly saw unprecedented reports of overfishing, under-reporting and laundering of catch, fishing activity during the closed season, and the deployment of illegal spotter planes – yet even such compounding evidence has not been sufficient to urge those responsible for international fisheries management to take strong action to save the imperiled Mediterranean bluefin tuna, according to the conservation group.

Japan reportedly pushed forward the flimsy proposal adopted today at ICCAT in Turkey, whereby the industry players involved in the Mediterranean bluefin tuna business can – if they wish – attend a meeting in Tokyo, to brainstorm on the management of the fishery. This is said to be a formal acceptance by ICCAT of the market-driven, rather than science-driven, nature of management in this fishery.

The idea of a multi-annual closure of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery was however, reportedly tabled by the US – strongly supported by Canada, whose head delegate appropriately quoted the late Robert Kennedy: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”

But other countries involved in the fishery are said to have talked down the proposal, and even succeeded in getting an increased overall quota for the 2008 fishery.

Yet this week, ICCAT’s independent scientific committee has repeatedly stated yet again that collapse of Mediterranean bluefin tuna is imminent. “Latest estimates indicate that large adjustments to current management measures would now be necessary to enable recovery – otherwise collapse is at this point probable,” the chairman of ICCAT’s scientific committee said.