Bluefin tuna quotas up for renewal

Google – AFP, Celine Serrat (AFP), 12 November 2012 

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are estimated to have halved over four decades

in some areas (AFP/File, Str)

PARIS — Fishing nations meet in Morocco this week to thrash out tuna quotas as experts urge maintaining bluefin catch limits amid promising signs of the decimated species making a comeback.

Hunted to the brink of extinction to feed a burgeoning sushi market, the Atlantic bluefin tuna was placed on the endangered list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Stocks are estimated to have halved over four decades in some areas, with catches in the 1990s exceeding 60,000 tons per year.

Jolted into action by evidence of the game fish's looming annihilation, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) agreed to a 32,000-ton annual catch limit in 2006.

Last month, scientists said they had

 found evidence that the fishing limits

 were spawning a bluefin revival (AFP/File,

Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Two years later, environmentalists fought a losing battle for the introduction of a complete ban on bluefin fishing, but the ICCAT introduced progressively tougher limits year after year.

The current annual quota is 12,900 tons for the Mediterranean and east Atlantic and 1,750 tons for the west Atlantic -- a figure scientists say should allow a complete population recovery by about 2020.

Last month, ICCAT scientists said they had found the first evidence that the fishing limits were spawning a bluefin revival in the east Atlantic and Mediterranean.

For a week from Monday, the ICCAT's 48 member countries will meet in Agadir on Morocco's west coast to consider whether to alter the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), an annual upper limit, for the next three years.

"We are still very concerned about control and the incidence of illegal fishing of this stock," Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries at green group WWF Mediterranean, warned ahead of the meeting.

"The WWF is encouraging ICCAT contracting parties not to relax their recovery ambitions for this year... and keep the TAC at 12,900 tons," he said in a teleconference.

With sections of the fishing industry pushing for a relaxation of quotas, the Pew Environment Group also urged a cautionary approach.

The current quota is 12,900 tons for the

 Mediterranean and east Atlantic and 1,750

tons  for the west Atlantic (AFP/File,
Yoshikazu Tsuno)

"If the data is correct, we have seen a quicker turnaround than expected," said Pew expert Remi Parmentier.

"But the authors of the (ICCAT) report have pointed out so many uncertainties that this is not the time to lower our guard."

In September, experts at an IUCN conference warned that global tuna stocks were fast reaching the limits of fishing sustainability.

Five of the world's eight tuna species are classified as threatened or near-threatened, they said.

The Atlantic bluefin species, which can live to 40 years and grow to more than four metres (13 feet) long, is in the gravest danger of disappearing.

It is so highly prized by sushi-loving Japanese that a 269-kilogram (592-pound) fish went for a record 56.49 million yen ($737,000 at the time) in January auctions.

The Atlantic bluefin spawn just once a year and do not reach reproductive maturity until they are eight to 12 years old, making them more vulnerable to overfishing than smaller species which spawn more frequently.

The global tuna industry is an economic juggernaut with fishing in the Pacific Ocean alone -- accounting for 65 percent of the global commercial catch -- worth around $5.5 billion annually.

The ICCAT is tasked with the conservation of 30 fish species. Its members include the United States, Canada, Russia, Britain, China, several Mediterranean countries, the European Union and Japan, which single-handedly consumes over 75 percent of all the bluefin tuna caught, according to the WWF.

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“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth. ...."