Fishing Nations Spare Both Atlantic and Pacific Tuna Species

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France today announced his country's support for a ban of international trade in endangered Northern Bluefin Tuna, joining a growing call to list the overexploited fish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.

Speaking at the close of a national stakeholder consultation on France's future sustainable fisheries and maritime policy, the "Grenelle de la Mer," President Sarkozy said, "France supports listing bluefin tuna on the CITES convention to ban international trade."

Sarkozy put this in the context of France's support for a broader sustainable fisheries policy. "Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it's too late — we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future. We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations," he said.

The Principality of Monaco was first to communicate its willingness to sponsor a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, and has this week launched a formal CITES consultation process to seek the support of other range States.

Bluefin tuna (Photo by Tom Puchner)

Northern Bluefin Tuna is found in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean and the species is in trouble.

Contributing to the species' steep decline are the huge overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that far exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, the use of illegal spotting planes to chase tuna, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures that disregard scientific advice — all driven by the insatiable appetite of the world's luxury seafood markets where Northern Bluefin Tuna fetches record prices.

"In terms of eligibility for a listing in CITES Appendix I, Atlantic Bluefin tuna ticks every box and then some," said Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of WWF's Global Species Programme.

"CITES contracting parties would surely regret failing to protect this commercially overexploited species, and an icon of the oceans, from collapse on their watch – while they have this historic chance," she said.

CITES contracting parties next confer in Doha, Qatar March 13-25, 2010, but proposals must be submitted by October 17, 2009 to be eligible for consideration at the Conference of the Parties.

On the other side of the world, hope for the future of the tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific was raised when the Colombian government agreed to support an annual two month ban on tuna fishing.

Colombia's decision means that tuna fishing along the entire Pacific Coast of Latin America will be banned by all nations for two months a year to help protect the world's tuna stocks.

Tuna harvest at Taganga, Colombia (Photo by Deelsch)

Tuna fishing in the Eastern Pacific will be banned for 59 days in 2009, 62 days in 2010 and 73 days in 2011.

The ban is part of a series of measures introduced by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to avoid the catastrophic collapse of valuable stocks of yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) tuna.

Colombia was the last of the 16 nations that make up the IATTC to endorse the measures proposed at the meeting of the Commission in June. The group is made up of 10 Latin American nations and the United States, Japan, Spain, South Korea, France and Vanuatu.

Studies carried out by the IATTC showed a rapid deterioration of tuna populations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean – particularly bigeye – and data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization states that yellowfin tuna has been "fully exploited" in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, meaning that stocks are seriously depleted.

Fabio Arjona from Conservation International-Colombia called the agreement "a major step toward the creation of sustainable tuna fisheries in the Pacific."

"Thousands of Colombians rely on this industry, and this plan shows foresight which should ensure Colombian tuna has a future," said Arjona. "It also sends a message to the world that Colombia can be a sound trading partner."

In 2007, Colombia exported over 61 million dollars worth of tuna – 37 percent of its total fish exports – to the United States, Ecuador, Panama and Japan, among other countries.

Now with the endorsement of the tuna conservation program, Colombia strengthens its position on the marketplace and trade agreements negotiations with the European Union and the United States showing the will to put systems in place to ensure a more sustainable use of the tuna fisheries.

Arjona said the program for conservation of tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is a step in the right direction, but it can only be truly effective if other tuna fisheries adopt the same approach.

"We now need to urge the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to adopt conservation measures for the tuna stocks in that region," he said, "and in particular, the shared stocks of migratory tuna in the Pacific Ocean."

Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.