Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries decided to close the bluefin tuna fishery to purse seiners in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic, due to the exhaustion of the quotas allocated to them, in early June.

France, Greece and Spain were informed of this decision which became effective as of 10th June. The closure of the purse seine fishery was necessary to protect the fragile stock of bluefin tuna and to ensure its recovery as envisaged by the recovery plan of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT). The Commission has declared a zero tolerance approach towards overfishing and will take all necessary measures to ensure full compliance across the board.

Join us on a special dive to learn about the state of EU Fisheries

Fun fish ID Eco Boat Dive over the endangered seagrass meadows followed by free buffet & showing of End of the Line film

Sun 6th June at 13.00 at International Diving Center, The Port, L’Escala

Years of intensive fishing in European waters have led to dramatic declines in once abundant fish populations. Eighty percent of assessed EU fish stocks are overfished and more than 30 per cent are outside safe biological limits.

The 2012 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is an opportunity to stop overfishing, end destructive fishing practices and deliver fair and equitable use of abundant fish stocks. OCEAN2012 is an alliance of organisations dedicated to transforming European fisheries policy and to facilitating greater participation in the reform by broadening stakeholder involvement.

European Fish Week 2010 will take place from June 5^th to 13^th. It is a unique opportunity for everybody across Europe to play their part in making this a truly fundamental reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

OCEAN2012 member groups and friends will be organising events and activities throughout Europe, such as film screenings, panel discussions, food tastings, beachside activities and much much more. Together, we will be calling on the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, to make environmental sustainability a prerequisite for a reformed Common Fisheries Policy. Make your voice heard!

To register for this special dive please contact gaynor@kennaecodiving.net

Mercury Rising from Oceanic Preservation Society on Vimeo.

Marco Carè/Marine Photobank

“For the second time in three days, governments have put short-term political and economic interests ahead of sound science—first with bluefin tuna and now with red and pink coral,” said Kristian Teleki, SeaWeb’s vice president of science initiatives, who is attending the meeting. “Coralliidae are in desperate need of a mechanism that controls the immense trade in these species. CITES could have provided that, but today the representatives failed to heed the science showing these populations are in steep decline. It is now up to the jewelry and design industries, and their customers, to act where governments have failed.”

The call to list bluefin tuna under Appendix I was also rejected, although the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies the species as critically endangered, and despite overwhelming scientific evidence that current levels of fishing of Northern Atlantic bluefin are unsustainable. At the 2009 International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) meeting, the catch limit was reduced from 32,000 to 13,500 metric tons, short of the ICCAT scientists’ recommendation to reduce the catch to 8,000 metric tons or less to allow the population to recover.

Kenna Eco Diving and other members of OCEAN2012 sent a letter to the French President Sarkozy last month, asking that France supports a ban on global trade in bluefin tuna.
Monaco has proposed protecting bluefin tuna, much beloved by sushi fans in Japan and around the world, by listing it under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The European Union has come close to supporting that move, but fishing nations Spain, Italy, France, Cyprus, Greece and Malta last September voiced their opposition.

France’s policy change could be decisive at the next CITES meeting in Qatar in March, after Italy already said last week it would back a ban.