Some countries are turning a blind eye to declining tuna stocks, illegally fishing and resisting rebuilding plans, according to fisheries ministers from around the Indian Ocean.
Ministers from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles and representatives from Europêche’s Tuna Group met at the Indian Ocean Commission Fisheries Ministerial Summit to discuss purse-seine fisheries in the region ahead of the 26th session of the India Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) on 16–20 May.
The sector argued that while the Seychellois and European purse-seine fleets operating in the Indian Ocean have suffered a reduction of more than 22% of their catches since 2014, some other IOTC countries which are among the biggest harvesters have objected to the yellowfin rebuilding plan amended in 2021.
“With countries like Oman, which caught around 7,000 tonnes of yellowfin tuna in 2014 and reported nearly 70,000 tonnes of catches in 2020, it is no wonder the stock keeps declining,” said Anne-France Mattlet, director of Europêche’s Tuna Group.
IUU fishing ‘ongoing’ in Indian Ocean
“IUU practices, like use of large-scale driftnets, forbidden by the UN in 1991 and reiterated by IOTC in 2017, are ongoing in the Indian Ocean and some IOTC countries are ignoring the perverse effects of those gears in the ecosystems,” she added.
Attendees also heard allegations that countries such as Maldives and Kenya are ignoring these practices and propose instead to reduce purse seine yellowfin and skipjack catches by an additional 20% as well as imposing a three-month closure to the FAD fishery, without any scientific assessment.
The four ministers signed a common declaration recognising the need to strengthen cooperation between all countries dependent on the purse seine fisheries and agreed that ‘all fishing gears targeting tuna have an effect on the population and the ecosystem and therefore all shall contribute in a balanced and equal proportion to any reduction decided at IOTC’.
