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Bluefin tuna. (Photo: NOAA)
21 illegally caught bluefin tuna specimens intervened
SPAIN
Friday, September 19, 2014, 03:00 (GMT + 9)
Under the Fisheries Act of the State, Fisheries Inspection Service personnel intervened 21 bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) specimens in the Strait of Gibraltar that had been captured illegally.
The Prefecture of Cadiz had the collaboration of the Protection Nature Service (SEPRONA) and the Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil.
The Cadiz authorities are stepping up inspections at sea and in port in order to pursue, prevent and punish illegal tuna fishing.
The 21 tuna specimens that have been intervened weigh 1,173 kilos and have already been delivered to the Food Bank.
Meanwhile, the Border Inspection Position of Algeciras strictly continues controlling all fish imports to prevent the entry of bluefin tuna that do not have the certificate to ensure that its capture was made respecting international, Community and national regulations.
Bluefin tuna illegal capture and sale represents a fraud to consumers and unfair competition for all professional fishermen and trap centres that respect the required quotas and regulations.
Nowadays, fishing for this species is subject to international recovery plan, which since its implementation has been offering good results, La Voz Digital reported.
In recent years, the trap fisheries in Cadiz noted an increase in the abundance of the resource, an observation that has been endorsed by the scientific reports submitted by the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
In 2006 this agency approved Bluefin Tuna Recovery Plan, whose launch helped recover the resource and its biomass. This plan provides that bluefin tuna can be fished exclusively by authorized vessels and that each of them, or every trap fishery, can capture only one previously allocated fishing quota.
In Cadiz, although the trap centre season ends in June, it is extended until the end of the year in the Strait waters for part of the recreational fleet (which has exhausted its quota) and the hand-long-line fleet of Algeciras and Tarifa, which accounts for 6.3 per cent of the Spanish quota, EFE agency reported.
Related article:
- Bluefin tuna illegal fishing in Gibraltar reported to EC
By Analia Murias
editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media
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