THE countries fishing the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean have agreed to expand the annual quota for prized bluefin tuna to reflect an improvement in stocks.
Officials at the meeting in Morocco of the 50-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas said countries would hike the quota from 24,000 tons to 28,000 next year, with a further 4000 added in each of the following two years.
The decision means the quota has more than doubled from five years ago, when hopes for a recovery of once-depleted stocks were first envisaged.
Bluefin tuna is a delicacy in sushi and sashimi dishes the world over.
Environmentalists will be disappointed since they maintain that the recovery of the bluefin is still far too fragile to permit a major increase in fishing quotas. They were willing to accept a slight increase but not the number that was agreed yesterday.
Considering how many species have been overfished to near extinction in the past few decades, from cod off eastern Canada to Mediterranean bluefin, raising quotas while safeguarding stocks is a challenge.
Some environmental groups are troubled by the ICCAT’s scientific findings and think they might be overly optimistic but influential partners like the EU and Japan adhere to scientific advice underpinning a quota rise to 36,000 tons by 2020.
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