EU Affairs
EU rejects reversal of bluefin tuna ban
By MaltaMedia News
Jun 18, 2008 - 7:03:15 PM

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg has rejected calls from several Mediterranean nations to reverse a planned ban on industrial bluefin tuna fishing, defending its decision to close the fishing season early.

Under the commission's decison, boats from Greece, Italy, France, Cyprus and Malta were banned from fishing from tuna from Monday. The ban will apply as from June 23 for Spain.

Meanwhile, EU Fisheries regulators have accused France and Italy of quota-busting and misreporting catches of bluefin tuna. They said there were widespread abuses by fishermen from several nations trawling for the fish in the east Atlantic and Mediterranean.

On the other hand, France, Italy and Spain decried the commission's decision to halt the season for fear of overfishing, as unjustified and disproportionate, raising doubts about the figures Brussels used.

The Commission dismissed these accusations saying that unnamed EU member nations were failing to keep track of catches.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has raised ceilings on fishing fuel aids. Commissioner Joe Borg has in fact suggested raising the limit from 30,000 euros over three years per firm to 100,000 euros, which both France and Italy had requested.

On Wednesday, The Times reported that EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg will on Monday meet a delegation of blue fin tuna fishermen who held a protest outside the EU offices in Malta on Tuesday. Informed sources told the newspaper that a delegation of eight fishermen will attend the meeting.

About 300 Italian and French fishermen whose boats are based in Malta had protested over the EU ban on tuna fishing using purse seiner nets.

Source: AFP, Reuters, The Times.


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