The Atlantic bluefin tuna, a large migratory fish found in the western and eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, is at serious risk of extinction, says the global conservation organization, the WWF.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is sitting in Recife, Brazil, for its annual meeting.  This year, though, the ICCAT is coming up against heavy criticism about its practical effectiveness in meeting its mandate: the long-term conservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Richard Black, reporting for the BBC, says that the criticism being leveled against the ICCAT is due to the organizations inability to set quotas that would actually give bluefin tuna the breathing space necessary to replenish itself.

The ICCAT is meeting to discuss measures that will enable bluefin tuna to fight off extinction.  The WWF argues that this dire situation is the product of decades of illegal and over-fishing, disregard for rules and science, and being targeted by far too many boats.

At present, stocks of bluefin tuna are estimated to be 15% of their pre-industrial fishing levels.  The ICCAT was created in order to ensure the long-term viability of the species, but the organization has proven to be incapable of tackling the biggest threat facing bluefin tuna: illegal fishing.  The ICCAT traditionally sets quotas higher than is suggested by the organization’s own scientists and systematically fails to take illegal fishing into account when decisions on quotas are made.  Illegal fishing, along with regulated overfishing, has put extreme pressure on the species, with illegal fishing adding an estimated 30% to the legal catch load.

“For over 30 years, ICCAT has wasted countless opportunities to set science-based catch limits and curb overfishing of Atlantic bluefin,” says Sue Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environmental Group.  “A zero quota will show the world ICCAT is ready to heed the science, and recognize the importance of fully alleviating fishing pressure on Atlantic bluefin until stocks recover.”

Achieving a zero quota is not likely, says the WWF, if past experience is any guide.  At its last annual meeting, the 48 contracting parties of the ICCAT in traditional fashion went against the advice of their own scientists and opted instead to refrain from allowing a fishing closure put forward by its own scientific review on the meeting’s agenda.  Throwing their illogical practices in the faces of their own scientists, the ICCAT put forward a scheme labeled a recovery plan which undoubtedly continued overfishing patterns, in what the WWF accurately labeled a “collapse plan”.  “Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are sadly collapsing even faster than ICCAT’s reputation,” added Sergi Tudela of WWF.

However, as with most international organizations, the lack of will to act in favour of Atlantic bluefin tuna conservation is limited not by the ICCAT, but by the national interests which form the position behind the policy.  Writing for the Huffington Post in September, Raf Casert reported that a divided European Union failed to come to a unified position on how to protect bluefin tuna.  The bloc’s Mediterranean nations refused to back any stance that could lead to even a temporary ban.  Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Spain, France, and Italy, who all have strong fishing lobbies, went against the urgent call by the EU’s executive commission for a temporary ban until the stocks recovered.  Rather, the Mediterranean nations insisted on continuing the hunt despite the perilous state of the species, therefore increasing the possibility of continued over-exploitation of bluefin tuna.

At the last annual meeting of the ICCAT, the bluefin tuna quota was lowered to 22,000 tons from 28,500 tons, but scientists still say that is 7,000 tons over the advisable threshold.  Oceana, an international organization focused solely on ocean conservation, estimated that when the 2007 quota was set at 29,500 tons, illegal fishing nearly doubled the amount of tuna caught, putting the actual catch number at a staggering 60,000 tons.  The group further estimated that some 45,000 tons of bluefin could be exploited sustainably each year if stocks were allowed to recover.

Rebecca Lent, the US Commissioner at the ICCAT, told the BBC that the US and other countries believe this is the ICCAT’s last chance to engage in effective conservation measures: “We think ICCAT is the body that should be managing bluefin tuna, and this is its chance to prove it can do so effectively,” she said from Recife, Brazil.  “We’d like to have science-based management that has a good chance of stopping overfishing and rebuilding the stock, with effective compliance and monitoring.”

Without effective conservation efforts being reached in Recife, the US is likely to support a proposal made by Monaco, which would see the regulation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna moved to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.  This proposal has gathered support from most EU nations.  The NY Times suggests that such a move would allow fishermen to sell bluefin tuna domestically but would make the high-volume international trade illegal, thus giving bluefin tuna stocks a reasonable chance at recovery.

The opportunity for nations to rise above national self-interest and bring into effect a practical and viable management regime which is geared towards the long-term conservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna is taking place this week in Recife, Brazil.  Hopefully the opportunity will not be wasted like so many times before.  Because without sustainable exploitation, there will soon be no bluefin tuna to exploit.  And where is the profit in that?

Image Courtesy of Creative Commons