Fishing boats set out Monday in good weather to haul in bluefin tuna here on the first day of a shortened Mediterranean bluefin fishing season.
The Maltese longliners join fishing trawlers from seven other EU member states who together will share out a quota of almost 8,000 tons of the prized but endangered food fish, in the world's premier bluefin fishing grounds.
A delicacy in Japanese sushi and sashimi (maguro), bluefin tuna fetches hundreds of euros per kilo in Tokyo--the world's top market--where prices are now down from when a single bluefin tuna could sell at auction for over USD 1.5 million (EUR 1.09 million), last year.
This year's short fishing season in the EU is part of a recovery plan agreed in 2006 at international level to bring back the bluefin tuna stock to sustainable levels. Overfished for decades, the eastern Atlantic (including the Med) bluefin tuna could disappear from EU waters if not protected, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) says.
