P.E.I. Bluefin Tuna Harvesters Optimistic About Quota Increase
P.E.I.’s commercial bluefin tuna license holders have a reason to be optimistic these days.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) recently increased the Western Atlantic allocation of tuna for 2018. The Western Atlantic region includes Canada, the U.S., Japan, Mexico and parts of the U.K. and France. The total allowable tonnage will increase from 2,000 tonnes to 2,350 tonnes.
Assuming there is no drastic domestic policy changes over the coming months, the increase could result in more tuna tags being up for grabs for Island fishermen.
“Certainly, a positive development in a very tough file. But I think it speaks to how we manage our Canadian stocks. It’s nice to see an uptick,” said Ian MacPherson, executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association.
The P.E.I. tuna fleet includes 359 licence holders. Typically, each has an opportunity to land one bluefin tuna per season, with a chance, through a lottery, to land a second.
In 2017, there was an additional 122 tags given out, following the initial allocation.
P.E.I. fishermen currently have about 30 per cent of the Canadian allocation.
ICCAT decided to allow the increase because of apparent improvement in the Western Atlantic stock of the species.
But bluefin tuna is a species that can draw a strong reaction from all those who have a stake in their wellbeing and that was no less the case with this decision.
The Ecology Action Centre, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, denounced the increase, stating that it threatened to wipe out any progress tuna stocks have made towards recovery.
“This comes after stock growth in recent years, so why the commission would jeopardize that is really disappointing,” a representative from the group told CBC in November.
Canada decided in 2016 not to list bluefin tuna as a species at risk — something the Ecology Action Centre and others had been pushing for.
Fishermen on P.E.I. have been reporting for years that tuna are plentiful off the Island, more so than many had seen for decades. But questions have been raised about why they are seeing so many fish.
Some have theorized that fish are moving here because P.E.I. waters are one of the last places where they can find sufficient food.
Recently released ICCAT research has also caused some groups to question whether the western bluefin stock is really growing like it was previously believed.
That data showed that many of the fish being caught in the Western Atlantic are actually from the Mediterranean.
It has always been believed that these two stocks were separate, one that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico and the other in the Mediterranean.
If Mediterranean tuna are starting to move more into the Western Atlantic or the two just mix more than previously thought, it might be skewing the numbers to show a larger recovering in the local population then there actually has been.
Regardless, ICCAT has deemed the stock healthy enough to withstand the increase for this year.
