SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — November 17, 2014 — WWF said that the increases in Atlantic Tuna quotas approved by ICCAT this week are too much, too soon.
The organization which governs tuna fishing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, agreed to increase the TAC from 13,500 tons in 2014 to 19,296 tons in 2016, a 20% increase in each of the next two years.
“It might seem a paradox, but the bluefin tuna case confirms that sometimes it’s more difficult to manage a success than a crisis,” Dr. Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries Programme at WWF Mediterranean said. “It’s hard to apply the term ‘moderate’ to an annual increase of 20% over 3 years. We are concerned that the huge conservation efforts of the last years might quickly fade away.”
The group set a 20% increase as a target for 2017 as well, but that is conditional on a future assessment.
With indicators of measurable growth in the western Atlantic bluefin tuna population, members of ICCAT raised the quota to 2,000 metric tons, an increase of 14 percent, even though the population remains severely depleted. According to scientific assessments, there is a good chance that increased catches will reverse the upward trajectory in population size.
Next year the eastern bluefin quota will also increase, in this case by roughly 20 percent to 15,821 metric tons. Certain parties will also be allowed to catch an additional 321 metric tons. The quota will increase by roughly 20 percent again in 2016 and for a third time in 2017.
While ICCAT’s scientific committee agreed that a ‘gradual and moderate increase’ in catches would not jeopardize the stock health, some ICCAT members raised concerns that an increase of more than 70 percent is neither moderate nor gradual.
Several commission members raised objections, which could lead to fishing outside the bounds of scientific advice if these countries pursue catches over their allowable quota.
ICCAT took steps to strengthen port state compliance among members, but once again failed to implement a new system that would electronically track all catch and major sources of trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna. This is the fourth straight year that the target date has been postponed.
This story originially appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.