EU Wants to Speed Up Tuna Protection

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union’s top fisheries official on Tuesday pressed for stronger protections for the overfished bluefin tuna, an increasingly rare delicacy in high-end restaurants around the world.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said he wants to extend the fishing offseason, reduce tuna sold on the black market, and impose new worldwide cuts in catch quotas as quickly as possible.

The EU’s 27 member states were expected to approve the measure within weeks, officials said.

The proposal would reduce catch quotas this year for bluefin tuna caught in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean to 29,500 tons from 32,000 officials said.

EU vessels would be allowed to catch 16,800 tons, with the rest distributed between other Mediterranean nations and countries like Japan.

The overwhelming majority of Atlantic bluefin tuna is caught in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with a smaller percentage fished in the western Atlantic.

The bluefin has been part of the Mediterranean diet for centuries and the dark red meat now produces some of the world’s most expensive fish dishes.

Under the cuts, the EU wants to have strict surveillance from the catch to the dinner table.

"The measures introduced, which are draconian," will allow controllers from one nation to check vessels from another and limit recreational fishers to one bluefin tuna per trip at sea, said John Spencer, head of the International and Regional Arrangements unit of the European Commission’s Fisheries department.

"Japan will have to be very vigilant" because it’s a huge export market, said Spencer.

Also, major companies will no longer be allowed to send helicopters out to spot large groups of bluefin at sea.

In Japan last month, worldwide regulators adopted a plan aimed at slowing the decline in global tuna stocks by reining in illegal fishing, controlling the growth of fleets and sharing data on stock assessments.

Illegal fishing has been a curse for the species. In EU waters, it is estimated that one in three catches goes undeclared onto the black market, or an additional 18,000 tons.

Huge stocks of tuna that traditionally spawn in the Mediterranean have sustained generations of fishermen. Though the stocks have declined, fishermen have said the restrictions were excessive.

"The basic problem is that there are too many vessels chasing too few fish," said Spencer.

Globally two years ago, Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have dropped by 80 percent over the past 30 years. The global tuna export market in 2002 was $5 billion, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.