As announced recently, the European Commission adopted today a proposal to transpose into Community law, on a permanent basis, the recovery measures for bluefin tuna recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), last November, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Today's proposal follows the Commission's February proposal to amend the December 2006 Council Regulation on quotas for 2007 so as to include this recovery plan (IP/07/257, MEMO/07/85). At a meeting in Tokyo in January 2007, ICCAT members had agreed on the allocation of the TAC for eastern bluefin tuna. As a result of this decision, it was necessary to revise the provisional quota included in the regulation on fishing possibilities for 2007 as well as the conditions associated with it. This was to ensure that they apply to the 2007 fishing year. At the time the Commission said that it would shortly propose a Council Regulation to implement the multi-annual recovery measures for bluefin tuna on a permanent basis. This is the proposal tabled today. The Regulation will now go to Council and the European Parliament for final adoption. For further details, see also IP/06/1632, and MEX/07/0131 on outcome of the Tokyo meeting on bluefin tuna.
See also : Bluefin tuna: taking steps towards the application of the recovery plan