Pages above:
Journalists visit the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Split, Croatia. The Rainbow Warrior is in Croatia during the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) being held in Dubrovnik.
Enlarge Image
The race is on to fish out the last bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean. This is the warning we issued this morning from the Rainbow Warrior, at the meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in Dubrovnik.
Two of our ships, the Esperanza and the Rainbow Warrior, spent several months in the Mediterranean Sea this year documenting the activities of the tuna fleets, including vessels flagged to France, Spain, Turkey, Japan, Italy and Guinea Conakry, which are all parties to ICCAT.
Back in May we showed that catches are currently one and a half times the amount legally permitted. This is even confirmed by the ICCAT Scientific Committee .
We found evidence that EU vessels use spotter planes to identify
schools of tuna at a time when this is strictly prohibited; observed illegal
fishing by Japanese large-scale longliners during a period when the fishery
is supposed to be closed to them; witnessed some of the most powerful tuna fishing vessels failing to find any tuna schools during part of the peak fishing season in the eastern Mediterranean; and documented the Turkish fleet fishing in the Gulf of Iskenderun where it is claimed to be catching over-quota.
Our Spanish Oceans Campaigner, Sebastian Losada, thinks it's crazy. “The Mediterranean tuna fishing industry is engaged in a race to catch the last fish. They are wiping out the stocks and destroying their own future,"he said.
So we're at this meeting to demand that ICCAT cut the total allowable catch for bluefin tuna in half, prohibit industrial fishing for bluefin tuna during its breeding and spawning seasons, create a new minimum landing size and the close key breeding areas of the Mediterranean (especially around the Balearic Islands).
In short, it's crystal clear - time is running out for the northern bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean. Unless these steps are taken now, ICCAT will be remembered as managing the collapse of one of the most important and profitable fisheries of our time.
Evidence
Two of our ships, the Esperanza and the Rainbow Warrior, spent several months in the Mediterranean Sea this year documenting the activities of the tuna fleets, including vessels flagged to France, Spain, Turkey, Japan, Italy and Guinea Conakry, which are all parties to ICCAT.
Back in May we showed that catches are currently one and a half times the amount legally permitted. This is even confirmed by the ICCAT Scientific Committee .
We found evidence that EU vessels use spotter planes to identify
schools of tuna at a time when this is strictly prohibited; observed illegal
fishing by Japanese large-scale longliners during a period when the fishery
is supposed to be closed to them; witnessed some of the most powerful tuna fishing vessels failing to find any tuna schools during part of the peak fishing season in the eastern Mediterranean; and documented the Turkish fleet fishing in the Gulf of Iskenderun where it is claimed to be catching over-quota.
Destroying their own future
Our Spanish Oceans Campaigner, Sebastian Losada, thinks it's crazy. “The Mediterranean tuna fishing industry is engaged in a race to catch the last fish. They are wiping out the stocks and destroying their own future,"he said.
So we're at this meeting to demand that ICCAT cut the total allowable catch for bluefin tuna in half, prohibit industrial fishing for bluefin tuna during its breeding and spawning seasons, create a new minimum landing size and the close key breeding areas of the Mediterranean (especially around the Balearic Islands).
In short, it's crystal clear - time is running out for the northern bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean. Unless these steps are taken now, ICCAT will be remembered as managing the collapse of one of the most important and profitable fisheries of our time.