Oceana is making a final appeal for immediate action on Mediterranean swordfish, ahead of a meeting between EU Member States to decide on the future of the stock, which Oceana says has been overfished for over 30 years.
The meeting tomorrow will summarise the EU’s position ahead of the upcoming meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Oceana is appealing to Member States to “stop ignoring calls for immediate action on the desperate status of this stock, overexploited predominately by the EU”.
“EU inaction in addressing the overfishing of Mediterranean swordfish constitutes an embarrassment of EU institutions in an international organisation such as ICCAT,” says Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe. “The EU cannot apply a double standard depending on the species under discussion. After 30 years, inaction is no longer an option.”
Oceana is calling for the adoption of a Mediterranean swordfish recovery plan that allows the species to recover from overfishing back to sustainable levels. The organisation says that the EU Commission has acknowledged the worrying stock status several times, but nothing has been done so far.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)’s 49 Contracting Party Members will convene in their annual meeting in Malta on 10-17 November. The Commission decides upon the futures of key fish species including swordfish, tuna and sharks.
