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  WWF 12 Sep 06
Bluefin tuna overfished in the Mediterranean

Yahoo News 12 Sep 06
Risk of bluefin tuna disappearing from Mediterranean: WWF

Yahoo News 30 Aug 06
Greenpeace demands bluefin tuna moratorium

MADRID (AFP) - Greenpeace has demanded a moratorium on bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean, insisting that stocks will dry up if the industry continues overfishing.

Greenpeace demanded an "immediate halt to bluefin tuna fishing" Wednesday along with "the adoption of urgent measures" to reconstitute stocks. "We are on the verge of seeing the extinction of Mediterranean bluefin tuna," said campaign spokesman Sebastian Losada.

According to Greenpeace, reserves "are on the point of running out owing to illegal fishing and disastrous management" of stocks by the industry.

The ecological organisation said that last year some 50,000 tons of the species were caught, 56 percent more than the legal fixed quota of 32,000 tons.

Greenpeace says the extent of illegal fishing is "closely linked to the excessive capacity of bluefin farming" across 11 Mediterranean rim countries which the group says accounts for some three fifths of legal quotas.

Much of the farmed tuna is destined to end up on Japanese markets where a kilo of bluefin tuna can fetch between 100 and 500 dollars.

"A small number of firms and investors dedicating themselves to (bluefin) farming have taken over what previously was a common resource shared by hundreds of fishermen," says Losada.

Greenpeace calculates that this year's captures in the Strait of Gibraltar by small-scale fishermen have dropped to 85 percent of the 2000 level and that the size of the fish they are hauling in has slumped from 220 to 120 kilos.

To flag up the situation, 20 Greenpeace activists symbolically placed crosses outside a tuna farm off the Murcian coast, the area off southeastern Spain which is the world's largest producer of fattened captive tuna in the world.

Greenpeace wants to see a restocking plan urgently adopted involving the creation of "reproduction protection zones."

The organisation thereby hopes to head off via "drastic measures" the situation visited upon the South Pacific and West Atlantic "where catches of bluefin tuna have slumped spectacularly and have been unable to return to previous levels."

Greenpeace's campaign has brought it into conflict in recent days with French and Spanish port authorities and fishermen. From Sunday to Tuesday its Rainbow Warrior II vessel was refused a berth in the Spanish port of Cartagena and last week, fishermen in the southern French port city of Marseille used Greenpeace's own tactics against it by using their boats to block the activist group's flagship from docking.

The vessel was Wednesday completing a two-month campaign in the Mediterranean logging the extent to which bluefin tuna stocks are threatened by the massive popularity of sushi.

Yahoo News 12 Sep 06
Risk of bluefin tuna disappearing from Mediterranean: WWF

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Stocks of bluefin tuna are disappearing from the Mediterranean, the environmental group WWF warned.

"There is almost no more bluefin tuna to be fished in some of the oldest fishing grounds, especially in West Mediterranean," the group said in a statement in which it called on the European Union to ban commercial fishing during the breeding season.

The problem is particularly acute around Spain's Balearic Islands, where catches of bluefin are down to only 15 percent of levels a decade ago, the group said. In 1995 some 14,699 tonnes were caught there, mainly by French and Spanish fleets - while just 2,270 tonnes have been fished in the same waters this year.

Mediterranean bluefin tuna farms have also experienced substantial decline. From this year's catches of wild Mediterranean tuna, some 22,520 tonnes have been put in captivity and farmed, a 25 percent reduction on last year.

Six Spanish tuna ranches have already ceased operating altogether "because there were simply no more tuna".

The WWF prepared its findings for a European Parliament Fisheries Committee special hearing on the bluefin tuna crisis Tuesday.

Fishermen from the traditional tuna trappers' association in Spain, OPP51, joined the WWF in its call for immediate EU action. "We fear for our jobs", said OPP51 Director General Marta Crespo Marquez. "The EU has still not reacted to repeated warnings from scientists and we are looking to our elected representatives to take their responsibilities seriously".

The findings support WWF's alarm call earlier this year that huge illegal activity is plundering the last remaining bluefin tuna and "provide even more indication that collapse of the species may soon follow," WWF warned.

The group urged the European Commission to support a strict recovery plan including the closure of industrial fishing during the spawning season, improved monitoring of fishing and farming activity, compulsory observers on board all tuna vessels and in tuna farms and the setting of a scientifically-based minimum catch size.

WWF 12 Sep 06
Bluefin tuna overfished in the Mediterranean

Brussels, Belgium – New data released today by WWF, the global conservation organization, reveals that bluefin tuna has almost been totally fished in some of the Mediterranean’s oldest fishing grounds.

Catches around Spain’s Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean, for example, are down to just 15 per cent of what they were just a decade ago. Only 2,270 tonnes have been fished there this year — mainly by French and Spanish fleets — compared with 14,699 tonnes in 1995. The data also reveals that Mediterranean bluefin tuna farms — which would usually be filling up by this time of the year — have experienced substantial decline.

From 2006’s catches of wild Mediterranean tuna, some 22,520 tonnes have been put in captivity and farmed, a 25 per cent reduction compared to 30,000 tonnes farmed last year. Six Spanish tuna ranches have already ceased operating altogether because there were simply no more tuna.

The findings support a recent WWF-commissioned report — The plunder of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic in 2004 and 2005: Uncovering the real story — that explains how huge illegal activity is plundering the last remaining bluefin tuna, providing even more indication that collapse of the species may soon follow.

“The new data points to the risk of economic collapse in the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishing and ranching sector,” warns Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi of the Advanced Tuna Ranching Technologies and author of the WWF bluefin tuna report. “The Mediterranean bluefin tuna species is under threat and many jobs in the tuna fishery are being jeopardized. The situation is alarming.”

WWF is urging the European Commission to support a strict recovery plan for the fishery, including: closure of industrial fishing during the spawning season to save the last reproducing fish; improved real-time monitoring of fishing and farming activities; compulsory observers on board all tuna vessels and in tuna farms; and the setting of a scientifically-based minimum catch size.

WWF is presenting the findings on the 2006 fishing season today at the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, which is holding a special hearing on the bluefin tuna crisis.

On this occasion, fishermen from the traditional tuna trappers’ association in Spain are joining WWF, calling on to the EU to take immediate action. “We fear for our jobs,” said the association’s Director General, Marta Crespo Márquez. “The EU has still not reacted to repeated warnings from scientists and we are looking to our elected representatives to take their responsibilities seriously.”

The European Commission will represent EU Member States at the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) meeting in November. As one of the most important players in the decision-making process, the EU can push for the protection of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna from further decline.

END NOTES:

• The bluefin tuna fishery season starts in April/May when the fish swim into the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic to spawn. Traditional tuna trappers catch them on their way into the sea. From May/June larger scale fishing methods are used to catch the fish in the high seas, which are then either transferred to tuna farms or transported directly out of the Mediterranean to the Japanese or other markets. The current closed season for the fishery is 15 July to 15 August. Tuna caught after this time is destined for Euro-Mediterranean consumption.

• The study — The plunder of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic in 2004 and 2005 – Uncovering the real story — was conducted for WWF by independent consultancy Advanced Tuna Ranching Technologies (ATRT).

• ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) meets for its annual plenary meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 17–27 November 2006.
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