Multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 on establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

It updates the rules of the European Union (EU) on applying the multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, which currently runs from 2023 to 2027 and is recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), an intergovernmental fishery organisation to which the EU is a contracting party.
It replaces and repeals Regulation (EC) 2016/1627.
It amends Regulations (EC) No 1936/2001, (EU) No 2017/2107 and (EU) No 2019/833.

KEY POINTS

The regulation’s objective is to maintain a biomass* of bluefin tuna at or above levels capable of producing the maximum sustainable yield.

Each EU Member State must:

ensure that the fishing effort of its catching vessels and its traps is proportionate to the bluefin tuna fishing opportunities (total allowable catches allocated under Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 – the EU’s common fisheries policy) available to it in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean;
provide the European Commission with an annual fishing plan for its vessels and traps and annual fishing capacity and farming management plans that ensure its fishing capacity is in line with its allocated quota.

The regulation contains rules on:

minimum conservation reference sizes (generally 30 kg or 115 cm fork length, although lower in certain fisheries);
incidental catches (parts of catches that are not targeted) – up to a maximum of 5% of bluefin tuna weighing between 8 and 30 kg or with a fork length between 75 and 115 cm;
the use of (prohibited) aerial means, such as aircraft, to search for bluefin tuna;
records of both fishing and non-catching vessels and traps – Member States have to supply these to the Commission each year;
recording requirements – vessels must use logbooks to record information;
designated ports for landing or transhipping bluefin tuna – Member States must send a list of these ports to the Commission each year;
caging operations, their authorisation and inspection;
monitoring and surveillance – vessel monitoring, national observer programmes and the ICCAT regional observer programme;
inspections and cross-checks – the ICCAT joint scheme of international inspection and Member States’ annual inspection plans;
the carry-over of non-harvested live bluefin tuna from previous years’ catches – Member States responsible for farms must complete an annual carry-over declaration and submit it to the Commission;
marketing – the trade, landing, import, export, placing in cages for fattening or farming, re-export and transhipment of bluefin tuna are not permitted in the EU unless accompanied by accurate, complete and validated documentation as set out in this regulation, Regulation (EU) No 640/2010 and Regulation (EC) No 1936/2001 (see summary);
catches in the cases of sport or recreational fishing;
the annual fishing capacity management plan, in which Member States adjust the number of fishing vessels in order to demonstrate that the fishing capacity is commensurate with the fishing opportunities allocated to catching vessels and traps for the relevant quota period;
the annual farming management plan, in which Member States ensure that the total input capacity and the total farming capacity are commensurate with the estimated amount of bluefin tuna available for farming and which the Commission then compiles and integrates into the EU plan that must be forwarded to the ICCAT Secretariat by 15 February of each year for discussion and approval by the ICCAT;
the provisions that need to be made by Member States for by-catches of bluefin tuna within their quota and the obligation to inform the Commission thereof when transmitting their annual fishing plans;
fishing seasons for different types of vessels and the level of by-catches of bluefin tuna (which must not exceed 20% of the total catch on board at the end of each fishing trip) – the methodology used to calculate those by-catches, in relation to the total catch on board, must be clearly defined in Member States’ annual fishing plans.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 17 October 2023.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

Bluefin tuna: Council agrees on update of the multiannual recovery plan (Council of the European Union).

KEY TERMS

Biomass. The mass of tuna in a given body of water at a given time.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, amending Regulations (EC) No 1936/2001, (EU) 2017/2107, and (EU) 2019/833 and repealing Regulation (EU) 2016/1627 (OJ L 238, 27.9.2023, pp. 1–64).

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