Usually the Bluefin Tuna purse seine season lasts from 26 May to 24 June. This year some European purse seiners were obligated to an earlier end as stricter measures to preserve Bluefin Tuna stocks are implemented.

Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Greece have reached their higher limit quotas and so purse seiners are back to the ports. Quotas are defined by TACs (Total Allowable Catches) shared between EU countries under a system known as 'relative stability' which keeps national quotas stable in relation to each other, even when the total quantity of fish that can be caught varies with the productivity of the fish stocks.

TACs are set annually for most stocks in line with multi-annual plans. This year’s TACs and quotas are available here.

The Bluefin Tuna fishery is regulated by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) where the EU and member states are members. Since November 2012 ICCAT adopted a reinforced multi-annual recovery plan for Bluefin Tuna. There sustainable management of the stock is taken under consideration and a number of new strict control measures are introduced. On the on hand TAC have slightly been increased, on the other as of 2013, the control and traceability of Bluefin Tuna for both fishing and farming activities have been further reinforced.

This year the quota monitoring resulted from fishing vessels and Bluefin Tuna farms declares. The Commission services noted that new measures are being implemented and that concrete and efficient results are being recorded: Member States have taken drastic decisions to ensure a sustainable management of Bluefin Tuna stock.

Farming of Bluefin Tuna is an increasingly important economic activity that needed to be included in control policies. Therefore it is very important that control in caging activities is being introduced in parallel with quota monitoring, to ensure that no quota is overshot.

(Article’s Sources: The Fish Site News Desk, European Commission Fisheries)

*More information on the purse seine technique is available at FAO webpage.