The European Union, under pressure from France and Italy, during the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) meeting, torpedoed attempts by the United States to properly regulate the number of tuna caught each year. The Commission even failed to agree to stop fishing during the most of the spawning season and blocked proposals for the creation of a working group to identify those responsible for the illegal catches.

“The Mediterranean tuna fishing industry wants to keep running their business as if nothing is happening. They are wiping out the stocks and destroying their own future. The European Community has given them license to wipe out one of the most valuable fish in the Mediterranean”, said Sebastian Losada, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.

The European Union so-called “recovery plan” brings no significant decrease in fishing pressure or meaningful protection of bluefin tuna during its breeding period. In addition to ignoring scientific recommendations that only 15,000 tonnes of tuna be caught annually, EU officials also blocked attempts to stop pirate fishing. Bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean suffers from one of the highest rates of illegal catches in the world, with catches over 50,000 tonnes despite a legal quota last year of 32,000 tonnes.

“There is no hope of recovery in this plan. It serves no purpose other than supporting a tuna fishing and ranching industry that has no long -term future. All it offers is an amnesty for pirates and a death sentence for the bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean”, said Stephan Beaucher, Greenpeace France Oceans Campaigner.

The state of the bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean is yet another clear example of governments and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations failure to guarantee the sustainable management of the marine resources they claim to take responsibility for.