18 Jun 2010 --- A new system for tracking bluefin tuna from catch to sale, so as to protect the alarmingly depleted Atlantic stocks, was backed by Parliament on Thursday. The new rules require documentation at every stage, including caging, harvesting, transhipping, exporting and re-exporting, so as to ensure complete and reliable traceability.

To thwart illegal fishing and improve fish stock control, the regulation transposes into EU law the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), to which the EU is a contracting party.

"Bluefin tuna is of worth so much that operators have gone to extraordinary lengths to cheat," said rapporteur Romeva i Rueda (Greens/EFA, ES), underlining the importance of full catch traceability. At the same time, he noted that ICCAT measures were not sufficient to counter overfishing. "The fact that the fishing season for purse seiners has been closed early this year is a clear sign that there is overcapacity," he said, adding that "we must take bold measures." 

Under the rules, all bluefin tuna catches must be accompanied by an official document showing:

- catch data (name of fishing vessel or trap, flag state, fish amounts, where and how caught),

- exporter or seller details,

- transhipment information (vessel names, port, catch details),

- farm details (name, date of caging, estimated number and weight of fish),

- harvest information (date, number of fish, tag numbers), and

- trade information (product description, point and destination of export, company's details).

Besides including the scheme in EU law, the rules specify how caught fish should be separated, how the document should be completed, and to whom and by when it must be sent. These rules also take account of the latest ICCAT recommendations, approved in November 2009 and binding upon ICCAT members from 1 June this year. These include:

- a ban on the use of chartered vessels, to prevent cheating on the origin of fish,

- new time limits for harvesting caged fish, inter alia to ensure reliable traceability, and

- detailed instructions on issuing, filling in and validating the standard catch document.

Thursday's vote, which confirmed an agreement between Parliament and Council negotiators, will enable the rules to take effect in the coming months. The legislative resolution, steered through Parliament by Raül Romeva i Rueda (Greens/EFA, ES), was approved with 564 votes in favour, 9 against and 5 abstentions.

An international scheme to document bluefin tuna catches has been in place since the 1990s, but as worldwide traffic becomes increasingly sophisticated, the rules need regular upgrading. The Bluefin Catch Documentation Programme, updated several times since of 2007, is one of the ICCAT's latest efforts to counter growing over-fishing.The current EU tuna documentation scheme of 2003, based on earlier ICCAT recommendations, will be replaced by the new rules.