Fisheries management

Fisheries management. Case of the bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean sea

a) What is the problem at stake and its main explanations?

The main problem is the over-exploitation and economic waste. For example the economic waste in global fisheries, in the form of lost profits, probably amounts to about US$50 billion annually (Arnason 2006). One result is that, with a few exceptions, the world’s fisheries are not making a profit.

This is due to that made ocean fish stocks have traditionally been regarded and arranged as common property resources. Nowadays, it is still the most common arrangement in Ocean fisheries.

Therefore, it is more profitable for a fisherman to try to grasp his share as quickly as possible while the resource is large enough to yield some profits. fishermen are effectively forced to engage in wasteful competition with each other for shares in the obtainable catch

Because of this behaviour fishermen suffer low and decreasing incomes; And inevitably the general population suffers rising fish prices (due to the decline of the fish stock), and environ- mental degradation. For governments, it is a source of seemingly endless trouble.

Therefore the main damaging are economically and biologically

deal with that associations (like green peace) and the Government are responding to this situation by proposing several alternatives, as QIT, fish farming …

However these alternatives lead also their share of problems this is what we will study.

b) Is fish farming a solution here?

Fishing for northern bluefin tuna is one of the most profitable fishing industries in the Mediterranean

However we know that bluefin tuna is experiencing a population decline, mainly to over fishing that has risked term lead to the total extinction of the species.

Faced with this situation, the idea of fish farming appeared even if it seems a good alternative, it also causes its share of problems.

Indeed WWF Mediterranean Programme has estimated that in 2004 only, 225,000 tonnes of bait were thrown to the Mediterranean Sea to feed caged tuna.

This causes a number of risks to the environment, namely:

-Introduction of diseases

- Disruption of reproduction

- Marine Pollution (caused by dropping from fish and food scraps washed away)

- The vast amount of fish needed to feed the tuna is itself a matter of concern (risk to disruption of the food chain)

- Conflicts with activities such as navigation, artisanal fishing and tourism.

Furthermore their rapid development does not allow a sizable check.

Finally, this can be a solution but, we can not use it on a large scale. Do not concentrate only on it

c) An attempt to handle the problem has been undertaken at the international (Mediterranean level). Was it successful and why

Given the abusive and over-fishing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, the decrease of the species, of non-compliance of countries with international obligations, and any other threats to the red tuna and fishermen in depend. The countries of the European Union, the countries concerned by this issue have implemented certain measures that will have to approved by the ICCAT beings to cope with all these problems.

These measures are:

→A substantial reduction of bluefin tuna quota as part of a reconstruction program in the long term tuna ; fixed as a precaution.

→ A new minimum landing size that correspond to the sexual maturity of the species.

→Regulation of peaches seasons (extensions of time, limitation of fishing zones) in order to reduce the decline of the species

→ An observer program on fishing boat and farms. To ensure that authorized quotas are respected.

→ Stop the expansion of tuna farms until the bluefin tuna population may well breed and develop.

Observation after the implementation of measures:        

Today according to our research, in France, for example, fishing for bluefin tuna feel better, even if fishing quotas are reached very quickly but nevertheless no fraud were identified in 2015.

We note a government effort to fight against the excesses related to this activity, with the establishment of a fishing boat, of the French Navy for more controls, to enforce the specific regulations on fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean. No tonnage fraud has observed by the inspectors of the ICAT

In 2015, at the level of European during the bluefin tuna fishing season the fishermen were entitled to a quantity of fishing quotas 9.372 tons against 7,938 in 2014; this increase is due mainly to the gradual recovery of the stock of bluefin tuna attested by scientific evidence. We can observed the commitment to the implementation of international control measures for the fishing of bluefin tuna. To fight against overfishing, a "strict" control program and inspection also been set up, led by the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) and the Member States concerned.

d) What may be the economic and social consequences of a strong limitation of tuna fishing? Complete with your own research on Internet)

Fishing is integral to economies around the world. Overfishing threatens coastal nations down to the local level, devastating communities whose chief source of labor and revenue hinges on healthy, plentiful stocks of fish.

The current approach to tuna harvesting in the Mediterranean Sea follows

a classic pattern of industrial fishing interests racing to take the last of a

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