What is bluefin tuna, and where and how is it fished?
The Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is an unusual fish in many respects. It can swim fast (as much as 20-30 km/h), and it is big (the largest specimens measure over 3 m and weigh more than 650 kg). Thanks to its warm blood, it is able to swim and hunt in very cold water. Bluefin tunas live mainly in midwater, ranging from the sea-surface down to 500-1000 metres deep, and are therefore considered ‘pelagic’ fish.
It is also a long-lived species (20-40 years) which matures late and is known to migrate vast distances.
There are considered to be two main bluefin tuna stocks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean – a western stock with its spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, and an Eastern stock which spawns in the Mediterranean.
The bluefin tunas that reproduce in the Mediterranean mature at the age of 4 years and spawn in June, whereas the West Atlantic stock starts to spawn around the age of 8 years.
Bluefin tuna is a highly prized fish, in particular on the Japanese market, which accounts for 80 % of global sales. It is caught by a variety of methods: coastal traps, longliners, purse-seine nets, bait-boats and pole and line.
What countries are involved in the Eastern bluefin tuna fishery?
All the countries around the Mediterranean have an interest in the bluefin tuna fishery. The EU Member states together share some 57 % of the total allowable catch. Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Libya share another 27 %, with Japan taking 9 %. Other participants in the fishery include China, Croatia, Korea, and Chinese Taipei.
How is the bluefin tuna fishery managed?
As bluefin tuna is a highly migratory species, international co-operation is essential to the proper management of the stocks. Both the Eastern and Western stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna are managed by a regional fisheries organisation called the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). This organisation has 42 members. It is the European Commission that negotiates on behalf of the EU Member States in ICCAT.
ICCAT's Standing Committee on Research and Statistics makes the scientific assessments upon which the management decisions are based. The data which feeds into this process is generally supplied by the fisheries sector (declarations of fishing effort, catch data classified according to date, zone and type of fishing method). ICCAT management and conservation measures, which are negotiated between the Contracting Parties, set binding total allowable catches (TACs). Between 1998 and 2006, TACs for the Eastern stock (fished in the Mediterranean and the East Atlantic) varied between 29 500 tonnes and 32 000 tonnes. These TACs are divided into quotas which are then allocated to the various Parties. In addition, minimum landing sizes for tuna fish must be observed and closed fishing seasons, which vary according to the type of fishing gear, also apply.
Since 1998, the Western stock of bluefin tuna (which reproduces in the Mexican Gulf) has been subject to a recovery plan adopted by ICCAT. The annual TACs for this stock now oscillate between 2,100 and 3,000 tonnes per year.
Is the bluefin tuna stock in the Mediterranean under threat?
According to the latest projections made public by ICCAT scientists in October 2006, current catches represent a mortality rate (amount of fish killed by fishing) which is over three times the Maximum Sustainable Yield. Spawning stock biomass per recruit – which measures the capacity of the fish population to replenish itself – is now less than one-fifth of the level of 1970.
The exact extent of the stock decline is difficult to assess, due to the fact that not all the parties involved have respected their commitments under ICCAT to report catches. However, scientists take the view that the fishery is in danger of collapse in the near future unless serious measures are taken and effectively enforced.
The state of the bluefin tuna stock is a cause of great concern to the European Commission. The Commission’s inspectors monitor the way in which national fisheries inspectors enforce the regulations for this fishery very closely.
How significant is the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean?
According to estimates by scientists, large amounts of bluefin tuna are currently being caught outside the legal ICCAT management measures.
Infringements are committed by wrongdoers who operate completely illegally (vessels with no flag, no licence, etc), as well as by those who engage in illegal fishing operations alongside their legal activities.
For obvious reasons, it is difficult to assess the extent of IUU fishing. Estimates of real total annual catches of bluefin tuna (legal and illegal) point to a figure of 50 000 tonnes for Eastern bluefin tuna, as compared with an official TAC of 32 000 tonnes in 2006.
Up until 2006, it was the flag state (the country where the fishing vessel is registered) which had sole responsibility for monitoring and controlling the activity of vessels flying its flag.
What measures are now being taken to protect the stocks?
At its annual meeting held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 17 to 26 November 2006, ICCAT agreed on a new multi-annual recovery plan for Eastern bluefin tuna to run for 15 years from 2007. The plan adopted is based upon a proposal promoted by the coastal states of the Mediterranean and the EU and supported by the EU Member States.
The key conservation measures laid down by the recovery plan are a gradual reduction in the TAC from the 2006 level of 32 000 tonnes to 25 500 tonnes by 2010, along with a substantial increase in the minimum landing size to 30 kg in all waters, and extensions to the existing closed seasons. A crucial step has also been taken by ensuring that all stages of the fisheries from capture to market will be documented and monitored. However, the main achievement of the agreement is the global control plan, which both strengthens the role of ICCAT in monitoring the fisheries and reinforces the responsibilities and powers of the Contracting Parties to combat illegal fishing activities, whether by ICCAT-flagged vessels or by other parties. For the first time, ICCAT now has a solid legal basis supported by all the Contracting Parties which can ensure that conservation measures for blue fin tuna are effectively enforced.
Part 2 – The new ICCAT control regime
How will the new control scheme help prevent the overfishing that occurred in the past?
The new ICCAT management plan establishes a catch reporting system which covers the full chain of the bluefin tuna fishery from capture through landing, transhipment to processing vessels, and transfer to cages, to marketing. Catches must be entered in a compulsory log book, and all subsequent operations – landing, transhipment to processing vessel, or transfer to farm – must be declared. Control and monitoring are also reinforced for the marketing phase, and there is an explicit prohibition of all forms of marketing and trade, both domestic and international, in fish caught illegally.
Previously, monitoring was carried out in a piecemeal manner, and catch reports were often submitted late. Now, there is a reporting obligation at every step in the chain, with clear deadlines for submission. Flag states are also obliged to systematically cross-check all the information that they have, including the satellite-based vessel monitoring system (VMS) data, and if any inconsistencies are discovered, to suspend the licence of the vessel concerned pending further investigation.
All this data must be transmitted not only to the Contracting Parties concerned, but also to ICCAT where it can be centralised for control and quota uptake monitoring. Skippers have ten days to report catches to their flag states prior to 1 June, and five days during the remainder of the season. The flag states must in turn transmit this information immediately to ICCAT. As soon as any contracting party reaches 85% of their quota, ICCAT will immediately inform them, and they are then obliged to close the fishery, in time to prevent any possible overshoot.
How will it be possible to monitor all landings and transhipments at sea?
Operators are now obliged to notify the Contracting Party concerned in advance before proceeding to land, tranship or transfer fish to cages. Vessels must inform the state where the operation is to be carried out in advance, and all such operations must be conducted in the presence of an observer. Transhipment to processing vessels at sea is banned for all vessels, with the exception of longliners over 24 metres operating in the Central Atlantic, on condition that the fish are carried by vessels listed in the ICCAT register. Other transhipment operations can take place only in designated ports, as must landings.
What about transfers to tuna fattening farms?
Control over farming operations has been considerably strengthened. Fish cannot now be placed in cages until confirmation has been received from the flag state of the vessel which caught them that they were indeed caught legally and within quota. If there is any inconsistency in the information concerning the fish at any stage in the chain, the farm state is required either to stop the transfer taking place, or to seize and release back to sea the fish already transferred. This requirement for the sharing of information between the flag state of the catching vessel and the state where the tuna farm is located provides a new level of real-time guarantee for the origin of farmed fish, and is expected to play a major role in combating IUU fishing on the stock.
What vessels will be subject to such controls?
ICCAT will establish a register of all vessels and traps authorised to catch bluefin tuna, including vessels which do not target bluefin tuna, but take it as by-catch. Any vessel not entered in the register shall be considered as not having been authorised to participate in the fishery.
The list of IUU vessels will also be extended to include vessels of contracting parties, which will be denied access to ports and services, once listed.
Who will have the power to control and inspect vessels fishing for tuna in the ICCAT area?
One of the major weaknesses of the previous management plan was the lack of any legal framework at all for inspection of vessels operating on the high seas (outside territorial waters), which make up most of the fishing grounds in the Mediterranean Sea. The new plan remedies this problem, by establishing a Joint International Inspection Scheme. Under this scheme, inspectors from any contracting party will be able to control the vessels of any other contracting party operating in international waters.
New provisions requiring prior authorisation, the presence of an observer and clear reporting lines for joint fishing operations (that is, between vessels from more than one contracting party) will also help make control of such activities easier.
What measures will be taken to ensure the Plan is implemented?
The management and conservation measures contained in the management plan are backed up by a considerable strengthening of sanctions against vessels and farms which do not comply with them.
The plan also provides for the prohibition on all marketing of and trade in bluefin tuna and related products that are not accompanied by the necessary documents to guarantee their origin, were not caught by authorised vessels, or do not in some other way comply with the provisions of the management plan.
What role will the EU play in control and monitoring?
The European Commission has no direct responsibility for monitoring and enforcing fisheries regulations. This role belongs to the Member States of the EU. However, the Commission's task is to ensure that Member States meet their obligations effectively.
To that end, the control of the bluefin tuna fishery is a top priority in the work programme of the Commission's fisheries inspectorate.
The newly established Community Control Agency has designated the ICCAT management plan as one of its top priorities for 2007 and should play a leading role in coordinating the work of EU inspectors under the joint inspection schemes.
Links:
Press release: Commission proposes adoption of ICCAT recovery measures for bluefin tuna
Web site ICCAT