Europêche President Javier Garat said the bluefin tuna quotas for the Mediterranean are far too low, despite the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) raising quotas last December.
“There is a reality in the Mediterranean Sea, and that is the bluefin tuna has recovered,” he said.
NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund, criticized ICCAT for raising western Atlantic quota by 15 percent and the eastern Atlantic quota by 20 percent, but Garat said ICCAT didn’t raise the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) amounts enough.
“They only increased a small percentage. We thought there was room for a much higher TAC for bluefin tuna,” he said.
Last summer, the fishing fleet in Garat’s native Spain fished its quota for the entire season within 24 hours. The tuna stocks have recovered so well, he said, that smaller pelagic fleets are complaining that the tuna are eating into their own stocks.
Garat said he supported scientific studies of bluefin stocks, but said he also considered the feedback from fishermen in forming his opinions and policies regarding certain stocks.
“We see every day how many bluefin tuna are in the waters, in our waters,” he said.
More of Garat’s comments are available in the video below:
