Tuna Fish Stocks In Mediterranean In Danger-WWF

September 21, 2004

Release from: Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Tuna fish stocks in the Mediterranean are in danger of being wiped out due to overfishing, a green group said on Tuesday, calling for a halt in EU subsidies and tougher rules to halt illegal fishing.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said a huge amount of young tuna were being caught and fattened up in fish farms or shipped directly to Asia, evading EU controls, putting the species in danger of extinction.

WWF cited a report prepared by Spanish-based tuna-farming consulting company Advanced Tuna Ranching Technologies (ATRT) which found that amounts of farmed tuna increased from 14,620 to 22,500 tons from 2002 to 2004.

"This data clearly shows how the fast growing tuna farming business is out of control," Paolo Guglielmi, Head of WWF Mediterranean Marine Unit said in a statement.

EU subsidies for tuna fisheries amount to some $34 million since 1997 to France, Greece, Italy and Spain.

But the EU executive said the EU's recent fisheries reform had tightened subsidy rules by encouraging fleet reductions and setting limits on numbers of fish that may be caught.

"Whether you catch tuna to send it to Japan for sushi or fatten it up, the bottom line is that it has to be done in a sustainable way," said European Commission fisheries spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber.

However, international co-operation was needed to tackle illegal fishing, he added. The Mediterranean is an international sea with 21 coastal states where only five countries and two islands are part of the EU.