Use of Spatial Tools for the

Recovery of Bluefin Tuna

Aguaviva CanariasLas Palmas, 13 June 2007

Sebastián Losada

Overfishing is impossible

“ I say it is impossible, not merely to exhaust them [fisheries] but even noticeably to lessen their number by means now used for their capture. For the last three hundred years fishing has gone on… and although enormous quantities of fish have been caught, there are no indications of exhaustion.”

(L.Z Joncas, Canadian Ministry of Agriculture, 1885).

The bluefin tuna fishery

■ Unanimity amongst scientists about high risk of collapse of the stock.

■ At least 50,000 t/yr of bluefin tuna have been caught in previous years.

■ Big involvement of EU fleets in illegal catches.

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ICCAT Scientific Committee (SCRS, 2006)

ICCAT Scientific Committee (SCRS, 2006)

■ Current fishing is expected to drive the spawning per recruit relative to virgin levels (%SPR), and thus the spawning stock biomass, to very low levels.

■ Current fishing mortality is more than 3 times the level which would permit the stock to stabilize at the MSY level.

■ This combination of high F and low SPR is considered to result in a high risk of fisheries and stock collapse.

A recovery plan for bluefin tuna?

■ Same fishing capacity. Catch potential 3.5 times the level advised by scientists (WWF, 2008)... and increasing.

■ Same farming capacity.

■ New control measures not complied with.

■ Unsustainable quota twice the level recommended by scientists.

Very little has changedthrough the new 'recovery plan'

■ EU fleets are highly involved in illegal catches.

■ EU regulations allow the EU to make countries “pay back” their over harvest.

■ The EU opposed the creation of a WG to identify those responsible for illegal catches.

EU Amnesty to illegal fishing by EU vessels

Use of spotter planes by EU flagged vessels

Eleven airplanes operating from Lampedusa

Greenpeace has obtained documentation (available upon request) showing that at least 11 different spotter planes have been operating in June 2007 from the Italian airport of Lampedusa.

According to documentation Greenpeace has got access to, spotter planes I-RRPG, I-AGSD and I-OBSW seem to belong to Associazione de Produttori Tonnieri del Tirreno / Grupo Severion Gallo. This ownership was officially declared to the Italian authorities.

Spotter planes owned by tuna associations?

ICCAT Circular #1823/06: Informationsubmitted by the EC on illegal fishing

Dossier Photos Medisamak “De palangriers nonenregistrés à l'ICCAT Pèchant en Mer Méditerranée”

ICCAT Circular #1823/06Photo evidences

Transhipments

The purse seiner Vergine del Rosario and the Panama flagged reefer Daniela while transhiping bluefin tuna on 11 June 2007.

■ Decreasing capacity will take some time... if it does not even increase more in the short term.

■ CPs to RFMOs are failing to fullfil their obligations.

■ New control measures are clearly not been complied with.

■ International fisheries management is completely failing in the Mediterranean.

Reasons for new approaches

■ Seasonal closure in May and June.

■ Effective protection of spawning grounds.

■ Avoiding the catch of juvenile tuna.

Avoiding the collapse of bluefin tuna

A tuna sanctuary in the Balearic Islands:a joint proposal by WWF and Greenpeace

■ The waters S of the Balearic Archipelago are perfect candidates to establish the first sanctuary for the protection of spawning BFT.

■ BFT egg densities reach the highest levels ever recorded in the whole of the Mediterranean basin.

■ Catches in the area have decreased in recent years: Spanish and French purse seiners captured about 15,000 t in 1995, and only 2,270 t in 2006.

■ The area is outstanding for the reproduction of virtually all tuna species occurring in the Mediterranean.

■ Legal challenges: ICCAT, HSMRs.

A tuna sanctuary in the Balearic Islands:a joint proposal by WWF and Greenpeace

To finalise...

■ Traditional fisheries management is failing and new tools must be put in place.

■ Considerations over the positive effects of spacial tools to preserve the whole ecosystem.

■ Wider benefits of these areas should be explored: tuna sanctuary / maps of risk /...