WRITTEN QUESTION E-2993/98

by Ernesto Caccavale (UPE) to the Commission

(8 October 1998)

Subject: Unfair allocation of Community tuna quotas

In line with the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, the Council of Fisheries Ministers of the European Union recently decided to place severe restrictions on the fishing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean. The fishing fleets of all European countries have been allocated a maximum quantity that can be caught, the TAC (total allowable catch), which for Italy has been set at 4 145 tonnes. These new allocations, imposed by Community regulations, would leave the Campania region, which is already facing serious development and employment problems, with a share of only 10 %. This quota in no way reflects the potential level of catches and also poses a clear threat to the local tuna tinning and processing industry: last year the fishing fleet in the Salerno district alone landed over 4 000 tonnes of tuna, and was able to meet 60 % of the national and foreign demand.

In view of the above, can the Commission:

- state clearly what criteria have been used to allocate the total allowable catches of tuna to the various Member States of the European Union and whether or not there remains any possibility of these criteria being changed,

- specify what actions it intends to take to prevent other countries which do not belong to the European Union, but which are direct competitors in this industry, from continuing to fish for tuna in an uncontrolled way in the Mediterranean, thereby placing their European colleagues at a disadvantage,

- indicate what accompanying measures will be proposed to facilitate the changeover to other fishing activities or sectors, or alternatively, to help those involved leave the industry altogether?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(24 November 1998)

Bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean is managed internationally by the International commission for the conservation of Atlantic tuna (ICCAT) of which the Community became a contracting party in November 1997.

In 1995, ICCAT concluded that, due to the clear decline in the abundance of bluefin tuna in the East Atlantic and the Mediterranean, it was necessary to reduce the level of catches. To this end, it was agreed that all countries fishing for this species should reduce by 25 %, by the end of 1998, their respective level of catches of 1993 or 1994, whichever was the highest.

On this basis, the Council adopted Regulation (EC) 65/98 of 15 December 1997 fixing, for certain stocks of highly migratory fish, the total allowable catches for 1998, their distribution in quotas to Member States and certain conditions under which they may be fished(1). The basis for the quotas allocated to Member States were the catch data for 1993 and 1994 corresponding to each Member State reflecting the historical catch data tables of ICCAT, this being the only data available on catches of bluefin tuna. The Italian government considered at the December 1997 Council that these historical figures were an underestimation of the real Italian catches and, consequently, the Regulation included a provision whereby the Community would undertake to revise the historical data within ICCAT and revise the quota accordingly. Recently, the Italian figures have been revised at the scientific level within ICCAT and, at the next meeting of this organisation (16-23 November 1998) the Commission will seek to have the revised figures adopted by ICCAT as the basis for the catch limitations in 1998.

As to the activity of other countries in the Mediterranean, it may be noted that most of the Mediterranean corresponds to international waters, and is therefore accessible to other countries. The Community has implemented a recommendation by ICCAT to ban imports of bluefin tuna from countries which have been active in flag-of-convenience activities, such as Panama, Honduras and Belize. Following this ban, the activity in the area of vessels from these countries has been considerably reduced.

Finally, the establishment of catch limitations does not mean a mandatory cessation of activities for certain fleets. The Community does not have specific compensation packages for fleets subject to variations in total allowable catch (TACs) and quotas. However, the general problem of the adaptation of capacity is dealt with by the multiannual guidance programmes and other structural measures.

(1) OJ L 12, 19.1.1998.