EU credibility at stake over tuna issue – European Greens
Raphael Vassallo
European Commissioner Joe Borg’s inability to control the bluefin tuna fishery – now in imminent danger of collapse following years of mismanagement – may drag the entire EU into disrepute, the European Greens have warned in a hard-hitting letter to Commission president Jose Maria Barroso.
“The Green Paper published in April by Commissioner (Joe) Borg freely admits the abject failure of the Common Fisheries Policy to achieve sustainable fisheries,” Isabella Lovin and Raul Romeva y Rueda, both Green MEPs, wrote to Barroso on Thursday.
“Indeed, the CFP is widely viewed, both inside and outside the EU, as how not to manage commercial fisheries, and the EU’s credibility suffers as a consequence.”
The Greens hold Borg’s Fisheries Commission responsible for lobbying in favour of the industry, at a time when its own scientific advisors suggested more stringent measures to protect the over-exploited fishery.
“In Morocco last year, the scientific advice was for catches in 2009 of 8,000 to 15,000 tonnes. The EU refused to support a proposal to set the quota at 15,000 tonnes, which was sponsored or supported by 11 countries from North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Instead, the European Commission lobbied intensively to defeat this proposal and in favour of its own proposal – for 25,500 tonnes.”
Borg has never fully explained the rationale behind his decision, in November 2008, to set the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for bluefin tuna at a level three times higher than the maximum advised to guarantee stocks recovery (8,000 tonnes).
Unsurprisingly, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna population has plummeted as a consequence: “The most recent scientific assessment of bluefin tuna concluded that the eastern stock, fished primarily by the EU, is one third the level that would produce the maximum sustainable yield and fishing mortality is three times too high,” the Greens have warned.
The European Commission is divided, with Brussels sources saying that Borg is fighting his environment counterpart, Stavros Dimas, who supports a ban.
Europe’s bluefin tuna fisheries are ultimately controlled by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), to which the Commission is a contracting party.
“Both ICCAT and the EU have had a great many chances to come to grips with an extremely lucrative fishery that has come to resemble a feeding frenzy rather than a well-managed and sustainable fishery. They have not done so,” the Greens’ letter observes.
The European Greens now urge the Commission to back a proposal, originally put forward by Monaco, to have the bluefin tuna listed on Appendix 1 of the UN’s register of endangered species (CITES): an initiative which would result in a ban on international trade.
“The only alternative is to impose a ban on international trade in bluefin tuna, by placing the species on Appendix 1 of CITES until the species has recovered,” Lovin and Romeva conclude. “The question is whether the Community will summon the political will to make the difficult decisions that are so clearly needed to put the bluefin tuna fishery on a sustainable basis, and thereby achieve some credibility as a body that actively supports responsible fishing. Or will the EU continue to lead the pack of countries that insist, against all evidence, that ICCAT is a credible organization; that the fishery is too valuable, at least to a few wealthy ship-owners and traders, and that international trade must not be interfered with?”
The European Commission is currently debating Monaco’s proposal, with a view to adopting a common position ahead of the next CITES meeting in March 2010.
Malta is vehemently opposing the measure, on the grounds that the tuna ranching industry contributes €100 million to the economy. MaltaToday has asked the Rural Affairs Ministry for copies of Malta’s caging declarations for 2009 in order to verify this claim, but no reply has as yet been forthcoming.
Commission divisions intensify Similar criticism has been levelled at Fisheries Commissioner Borg, albeit indirectly, by Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in its reactions to Monaco’s proposal last week.
MaltaToday has seen a copy of the report submitted by the DG Mare, which singles out decisions taken by Borg at the ICCAT summit in Morocco last year as among the main reasons for the current, unsustainable situation.
“The levels of exploitation depend notably on the Total Allowable Catches, which are currently set above scientific recommendations,” the report states, with specific reference to Borg’s insistence on quotas of 25,500 tonnes.
Maltese companies involved in the trade have formed a co-operative and are in the process of submitting their own scientific study, compiled by Prof. Carmel Agius, to counter the opinions the scientific community, which want to ban the trade of bluefin tuna. Agius is a consultant with Fusion Marine, a London based aquaculture firm which supplies several local ranches with their bluefin tuna caging equipment.
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