The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has voiced disappointment over the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna''s (ICCAT) recent new measures to improve traceability of bluefin tuna and management of Mediterannean swordfish.
It was hoped that this year’s ICAAT meeting in Istanbul would put in place comprehensive plans for improvement – but instead, WWF say that only half measures have been agreed.
With regards to traceability of bluefin tuna, WWF welcomed the new electronic documentation scheme obliging all catches to be digitally logged in future.
However, Dr Sergei Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterannean said: “But no matter how comprehensive and functional this mechanism, WWF is concerned that the continued absence of data on quantity and size of bluefin tuna caged in fattening farms creates a black hole and provides an easy facility for the laundering of illegal, unregulated and unreported catches of Mediterranean bluefin tuna”.
The charity is calling for a thorough assessment of all fish transfers to tuna fattening farms across the Med – or the banning of tuna farming altogether in the region.
WWF has also expressed disappointment over ‘a lack of ambitious measures’ adopted by ICAAT to better manage Mediterannean swordfish. It says that new measures to provide data on catches and fleet size as well scientific information on the species could be ineffectual if countries do not comply.
