Subject: Discrimination in the supply of bluefin tuna to European farming facilities
Thanks to the decisions taken by ICCAT, bluefin tuna has evolved from being seriously overexploited to being a model of sustainability. This achievement is in part due to the efforts of the European fisheries sector, which has adapted to the management measures spearheaded by the Commission.
In addition to specific measures targeting extractive activity (TACs, closed seasons, minimum sizes, etc.), as an additional measure, ICCAT also restricts the development of the non-extractive processing industry, which engages in fattening. Thus, paragraph 23 of its Recommendation 21-08 states that ‘each CPC shall limit its tuna farming capacity to the total farming capacity of the farms that were registered in the ICCAT list or authorized and declared to ICCAT in 2018’. However, in mimicking this provision, Regulation (EU) 2022/109 extends this limitation to CPCs at Member State level, without any possibility for European vessels to bring their catches to European farms in another Member State.
In the light of the above:
What measures does the Commission intend to take, in compliance with ICCAT Recommendation 21- 08, to prevent the discrimination suffered by European vessels and to allow their catches to be brought into European bluefin tuna farms?
Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (12 December 2022)
In the EU, the increase of the maximum input of wild-caught tuna is regulated by Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1627 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/833 of 20 May 2019 (1). According to it, a Member State can increase the maximum input of wild tuna caught in one or several of its tuna farms and, therefore, increase its total farming capacity (2).
Further to this condition, Article 10(5) determines that the maximum input of wild-caught bluefin tuna into the farms of a Member State shall be limited to the level of the input quantities registered with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in the ‘record of bluefin tuna farming facilities’ by the farms of that Member State in the years 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008.
These baselines of input, and farming capacity, are reflected in the report of the 2009 ICCAT annual meetin g (3) and did not change until 2019 (4).
Article 10(5) establishes that the increase in the maximum input of wild tuna caught can only be linked to the fishing opportunities allocated to the farming Member State and that this increase cannot be linked to the fishing opportunities assigned to other Member States.
Under Article 10(6), the transfers of input capacity between farms of the same Member State or between farms of different Member States are possible only if the condition of the commensuration of the increase to the fishing opportunities allocated to the farming Member State is respected.
For 2023, as the bluefin tuna total allowable catch (TAC) has seen an increase compared to the 2022 TAC (5), and in line to the provisions lay-down by Article 10(5), Member States will have the opportunity in their Annual farming management plans to request an increased input capacity commensurable to the 2023 fishing opportunities.
⋅1∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32019R0833
⋅2∙ The ceiling to this increase is determined by the fishing opportunities allocated to this Member State plus any additional live bluefin tuna imports.
⋅3∙ Pages 264-265.
⋅4∙ The methodology used to assess the commensuration of any increase in input is: ‘Potential increase of input capacity in a particular year (y) = (quota y — quota 2018)
+ (imports y ‐imports 2018)’. Anything above that amount will be considered non-commensurate with their fishing opportunities (for dead and live fish) and as imports from other Contracting Parties to the Convention and a cooperating non-contracting parties, entities or fishing entities (CPCs). ⋅5∙ 23rd ICCAT Annual Meeting finished on 21st November with an agreement of a TAC of 40 570 metric tons for eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna.
