TURIN - “Too much too soon” was the verdict of the WWF after a ten day conference held in Genoa by ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) concluded yesterday. 

 ICCAT has regulated trade in tuna since 1969 and at the end of their latest annual meeting the commission decided to raise current TAC quotas (Total Allowable Catch) of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna by 20 percent each year for the next three years. A decision which has angered conservationist groups worldwide.

 The Atlantic Bluefin is found across the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In 2006 after years of poor management and over-fishing, the fishery nearly collapsed. This prompted ICCAT to introduce a 15-year plan to manage fish stocks. ICCAT set the TAC at 13,500 tonnes from 2008 onwards – although this figure was still twice as large as some of the scientists had recommended it should be set at to allow recovery.

 According to ICCAT, by 2012 the reported catch of Atlantic Bluefin tuna was 35 percent less than the previous five year average and some ICCAT scientists had started to make predictions about a possible recovery of the stock. Bluefin tuna can live for up to 30 years and don't reach sexual maturity until they are eight - 12 years old – which makes five years a very short time to allow recovery. In addition to this, the Mediterranean is a closed sea which slows down the recovery of stocks.

 According to a mission statement on the ICCAT website: “Science underpins the management decisions by ICCAT.” However, counting Bluefin is difficult and not only because we can't see them and they move around a lot. Official data is flawed due to unlicensed and unreported catches. A 2010 investigation by the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) revealed huge holes in the BCD (Bluefin Catch Document) a mechanism introduced by ICCAT to monitor the numbers of Atlantic Tuna and prevent illegal trade. (http://www.icij.org/project/looting-seas-i/overview-black-market-bluefin).

 As Chantal Menard from the WWF explains, the data being used by ICCAT lacks credibility: “All ICCAT scientists are reasonably sure that the Bluefin tuna population is no longer going down. The database used for the scientific analysis is plagued with gaps due to widespread illegal practices during the last decade; crucial information on size of fish and real catches is lacking. There is an on-going effort to gather some of this absent information to ensure the full stock assessment scheduled in 2016 is of much higher quality. In the meantime the tuna population size is simply unknown.”

 The ICCAT figures quoted for their recovery plan were given, “with at least 60 percent of probability”. It is difficult to imagine a scientific agency like NASA sending a man to the moon on a mission with a 60 percent probability of succeeding. ICCAT is dominated by commercial fishing interests which can underpin its management decisions more than science, and its decision to raise the TAC ahead of a full stock quota seems rash.

 But the Bluefin is a big business. In the Mediterranean alone it is worth over £400 million. Fish can fetch up to $20,000 dollars on the market. Most Bluefin is consumed in Japan where it is prized for its use in sushi. In an industry worth so much money the high tech killing power of industrialized fishing fleets is incredible.

 Aquaculture is similarly unsustainable. Fish farms take an estimated 200,000 wild fingerlings a year from our seas. The sewage they produce in the water produces algal blooms, which reduce oxygen levels in the surrounding waters. The chemicals and pharmaceuticals used to raise fish poison mollusks and creustations.

 Things were not always like this. Western civilization developed along the shores of the Mediterranean and its seas have provided food for millenia. In the 1800s, along the coast from Spain to Italy tuna traps known as tonnara once harvested huge quantities of fish in a sustainable way as they migrated between spawning grounds. Today most tonnara have become museums. Stocks have fallen so much that without spotter planes and sonar, commercial tuna fishing in the Mediterranean is almost impossible.

 While the Mediterranean contains an estimated 59 percent of the Eastern Atlantic bluefin quota: less than 1 percent of its waters is protected by reserves. The future of the Atlantic Bluefin is more uncertain than ever and more needs to be done to stop illegal practices and improve traceability. Michèle Mesmain, campaigns officer for Slow Food's Slow Fish explained how the industry could have a future if practices change:“Artisanal offshore aquaculture has been around for thousands of years and hopefully for thousands more if we can make it that long on this planet. What seems to have guaranteed sustainable production in the past is a goal to produce food, as opposed to accumulate profit.”