Busan: Meeting in Busan, South Korea this week, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) agreed to an unacceptably high limit on the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), essentially maintaining the interest of the Spanish fishing industry.
The IOTC agreed to allow 550 FADs per vessel. Which means that industry operators who use excessive numbers of FADs, mostly from Spain and France, are allowed to continue their FAD-dependent operations, and some fleets can even increase their use of destructive FADs and therefore the fishing capacity of any purse seine fleet in the region.
In response to the agreement,Francois Chartier of Greenpeace France said, "this is further expansion of FAD use dressed up as FAD control, and is further evidence of the failure of the IOTC to manage this serious and rapidly growing problem. Worse still, it completely undermines the voluntary commitment made by the French fleet to limit their own FAD use."
The agreement demonstrated that the European Union supported the interest of a handful of industrial companies from Spain supported by the French industry.
"This is beyond unacceptable,” said Lagi Toribau, Greenpeace spokesperson at the meeting. “This Commission has allowed FADs to expand uncontrolled for over a decade. The fact there has been absolutely no management framework in place for the use of FADs, makes it crucial that the market and consumers demand sustainably caught tuna that is FAD free and IUU free".
Tuna fishing capacity continues to increase globally, and the construction of new purse seiners and the proliferation of FADs means a large increase in the efficiency of tuna fleets targeting tropical tunas, which puts tuna resources at an ever-increasing risk. Compounding the risk is an increasing level of IUU fishing, and the failure by countries fishing in the Indian Ocean to submit the data needed to assess stock status, which means science-based decisions at the IOTC are compromised and politics takes precedence.
“The continued proliferation in FADs used by purse seine fleets is creating an environment in which free-school fishing, a cleaner fishing method, is becoming increasingly difficult. The agreement disadvantages all but the largest and most industrialized vessels, which will be best equipped to catch an excessive share of the world's tropical tuna catch, along with increasing amounts of juvenile tuna. This agreement shows the IOTC endorsing a drive to out-compete smaller and more sustainable operators. This move must be opposedby the entire tuna industry, by other nations, and by responsible traders, retailers and consumers of tuna products,” concludes Toribau, ‘or there will be no fish left to argue over.’
Ends
For more information, please contact:
Lagi Toribau, Greenpeace Australia: 
+614 1829 8746
François Chartier, Greenpeace France: 
+33 6 84 25 08 28
Sebastian Losada, Greenpeace International: 
+34 62 699 8254