European fishing industry body Europêche has appointed Anne-France Mattlet as director of its newly founded tuna group.
Bringing five years’ experience working on international ocean governance and tuna-related polices within the French government, Mattlet has been put in charge of Europêche’s tuna strategy. The strategy includes several pillars, including tuna legislation and policy, governance, trade and market, scientific work, and the promotion responsible image of E.U. purse-seine operations.
In her new role, Mattlet will also focus on initiatives such as the revision of the E.U. fisheries-control system, the margin of tolerance, and autonomous tariff quotas for tuna loins.
“The E.U. purse-seine tuna fleet provides a vital source of food, employment, trade, and economic welfare not only in Europe but also worldwide, including in developing countries. Operating across the oceans, our vessels comply with the highest standards of sustainability including working conditions, health, safety, and hygiene,” Mattlet said. “On top of that, our fleet has voluntarily adopted measures and invested in technology, at their own expense, to ensure optimal data collection.”
Mattlet said the tuna group wants the E.U. to only grant privileged access to non-E.U. tuna products if they respect the same social and environmental standards as E.U. operators.
“At present, low standard fish products unfairly compete with our own production in our own market. It is therefore paramount to address policy gaps and ensure an international level playing field, to protect our standards but also to ensure developing countries achieve the same ones, especially through the sustainable fisheries partnership agreements concluded with non-E.U. countries,” she said. “We want a sustainable fishery as much as a thriving European tuna-fishing sector.”
Comprising the two European tuna-freezer purse-seine organizations OPAGAC and Orthongel, the Europêche tuna group was created to advocate for the interests of the E.U. and associated tuna-freezer purse-seine fleet to enhance business competitiveness, improve the image of the sector, contribute to sustainable ocean governance, support the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and labor abuse in addition to creating an international level playing field for the tuna industry.
Photo courtesy of Europêche
