Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2009)406 - Catch documentation programme for bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus

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dossier COM(2009)406 - Catch documentation programme for bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus.
source COM(2009)406 EN
date 03-08-2009
As part of the measures to regulate fisheries of bluefin tuna, improve the quality and reliability of statistical data and prevent, deter and eliminate illegal fishing, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted at its annual meeting in Marrakesh (Morocco), on 24 November 2008, Recommendation No 08-12 amending Recommendation No 07-10 on a bluefin tuna catch documentation programme. This Recommendation entered into force on 17 June 2009.

The Bluefin tuna catch documentation programme adopted by ICCAT is mainly concerned with the impact of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the area. Consequently, it reflects the need for improved and stricter control on all the stages involved in the bluefin tuna fisheries and for the adoption of measures intended to support the implementation of conservation and management rules as well as scientific research on bluefin tuna. The documentation programme recognises the state of bluefin tuna stocks, the impact that market factors have on the fisheries and takes into account the recovery plan for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna (Recommendation 08-05) that ICCAT adopted in 2008, including the need for complementary market related measures.

However, the scope of the ICCAT Recommendation 08-12 is very wide and, in order to have effective control of the movement of bluefin tuna, strict tracking of the product from the point of capture through the whole operational chain to its final point of marketing is vital. In this regard, verification and cooperation between Member States and Contracting Parties to ICCAT involved in the trade of bluefin tuna constitute very important provisions of the ICCAT Bluefin tuna catch documentation programme.

The current ICCAT bluefin tuna statistical programme, which only covers import and export, was not designed to provide a mechanism to offer direct control on bluefin tuna fisheries. In order to ensure that the provisions in the ICCAT bluefin tuna catch documentation programme are more easily interpreted and applied uniformly, the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1984/2003 introducing a system for the statistical monitoring of trade in bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna within the Community should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation.