Editior's note: Although NMFS proposes a moratorium on bluefins in the eastern Atlantic, it expects the bluefin bag limit to remain status quo in the western Atlantic off the U.S. coast next year. Click here for a previous announcement about that. (pdf)

From National Marine Fisheries Service Director Bill Hogarth
on the NOAA Fisheries Service web site:

Strong action must be taken immediately to prevent the collapse of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock of bluefin tuna. Continued overfishing of this seriously depleted stock has convinced me to go to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) this fall to seek a moratorium on this fishery for three-to-five years to give the stock time to begin recovery. This November, I will call on the European Commission and the other 44 member nations of ICCAT to join the United States on the side of conservation. We need a determined international effort to save this truly magnificent fish. Given continued blatant violations of catch limits, closed areas, and reporting requirements, a moratorium is the best hope if we want to avert disaster for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna. The western stock of bluefin tuna intermixes with the much larger eastern stock, and there is real concern about the impact of uncontrolled eastern bluefin catches on western Atlantic bluefin tuna caught by our fishermen. The United States is committed to taking necessary steps to ensure the future of both stocks of bluefin tuna.

From Hogarth's column "Bill's Corner"
on the NOAA Fisheries Service web site:

October 2007

Dear Constituents,

The eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock is declining and in danger of collapse. We can no longer delay strong action by the international community to protect this species. As the U.S. representative to the body charged with conserving bluefin tuna, I believe the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) needs to adopt a three-to-five-year moratorium on all bluefin tuna fishing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea at its annual meeting this November. We may also need to consider conservation measures for the western Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery off our coast.

Fishing without restraint

For over a decade, scientists have been sounding the alarm that catches of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna are too high and must come down. The response? Eastern harvesting countries adopted stacks of paper specifying all the steps they would take to avert disaster -- and continued to fish without restraint.

Five years ago, the European Commission championed a plan at ICCAT that set catches at 32,000 metric tons per year for four years, a level that far exceeded the 25,000 metric tons recommended by scientists to stabilize the stock. The EC argued that such a plan was needed to bring all harvesting countries into the management regime, thereby gaining true control over the fishery. By the end of that plan, however, overfishing remained rampant and the stock was on the verge of collapse. To illustrate the vastness of the problem, catches from 2002 to 2006 exceeded the quota by at least 18,000 metric tons each year —an annual overage of more than 50 percent. The total quota overrun over the four-year period was 72,000 metric tons. With such unrestrained fishing, it is no surprise that ICCAT’s scientists are warning of stock collapse.

Unsustainable management measures were adopted

Last year, eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna harvesters had an opportunity to make a new start. Unfortunately, they did not rise to the challenge. Once again, the EC was in the forefront of those countries arguing vehemently for unsustainable management measures. The 2006 plan again set total catches far in excess of scientifically determined levels. This time ICCAT scientists advised that total catches on the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin stock should not exceed 15,000 metric tons if the decline of the stock was to be stopped. The adopted plan, however, sets the quota at 29,500 metric tons for 2007, nearly twice the scientifically recommended level, and future reductions over the next three years only decrease the quota level to 25,900 metric tons.

In pushing for this plan, eastern harvesters stressed that this time there would be strict monitoring and control requirements to ensure compliance. One year into the plan, however, there is little sign that eastern harvesters are respecting the plan adopted in 2006—and the stock remains in a perilous condition. While it is true that the European Commission recently closed its bluefin tuna fishery, this action came, once again, after quota limits had been overshot. Consistent lack of compliance with international rules has finally led the EC to begin to investigate its members that harvest bluefin tuna. This is both a clear acknowledgement of the serious problems with monitoring and enforcement of the fishery, and a poor reflection on the management agreement reached at ICCAT in 2006.

Concerns about western stock

I am also concerned about the western stock of bluefin tuna harvested off our coast. This stock has been under an international rebuilding program since the late 1990s and compliance with the program by western harvesters has been very good. In 2006, we again followed the science and cut quotas, but catches in the western Atlantic Ocean remain low in certain areas. The reason for this is not well known, but there is a very real concern that the long-term poor management in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery is negatively impacting the much smaller western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock due to mixing of the stocks.

Need for moratorium on eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock

Effective protection of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean through a moratorium is the most effective step we can take for the recovery of this important species. Many harvesters of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna have clearly shown that they are unable—or unwilling—to implement and enforce internationally agreed rules for this fishery even when the rules are weak. A moratorium on this fishery is the most enforceable step ICCAT can take to ensure the future of this species and the fishermen that depend on it. The international community must be prepared to take this bold step in November, and both harvesting and market states must be willing to support this action through effective enforcement.

Bill Hogarth
Director, National Marine Fisheries Service

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