Managing Bluefin Tuna In The Mediterranean Sea

Marine Policy 36 (2012) 502–511

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Marine Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol

Managing Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea
Ussif Rashid Sumaila n, Ling Huang
Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 21 April 2011 Received inrevised form 8 August 2011 Accepted 8 August 2011 Available online 15 October 2011 Keywords: Bluefin Tuna ICCAT Shared stock

a b s t r a c t
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is an important but not well managed fishery in the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, management system is evaluated with information on stock status, resource rent, and total employment. The non-restrictive implementation ofInternational Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) policies is found to be the institutional reason for its management failure, while the common-property and shared stock nature of this fishery is the fundamental reason. To address these major issues, policy schemes are proposed to help sustainably manage this valuable resource in the Mediterranean Sea. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rightsreserved.

1. Introduction Following a general global pattern (e.g., [1,2]), the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (BFT; Thunnus thynnus) is currently at risk of being overfished to depletion. The widely-accepted primary reason for the current state of this stock is its common property and shared stock status, which together can easily drive exploiters of a given natural resource into non-cooperative behaviour[3], known as the ‘tragedy of the commons’ [4]. To deal with the common-property and shared stock problem of tunas and tuna-like species including BFT in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent areas, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was established in 1969. One of ICCAT’s major responsibilities is to set and allocate BFT’s catch quotas according to its scientificstock assessment. However, ICCAT has consistently set the quotas much higher than the levels recommended by its scientists since 1995 [5–12]. Thus, the organization has been harshly criticized for its failure to manage BFT sustainably [13–15]. Consequently, some more drastic and immediate actions are called for, including a complete shut-down of the fishery; listing BFT on the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); and cutting the current annual catch quota by more than half. In order to evaluate these actions and improve BFT stock sustainability, this paper provides a background review to the fisheries and management regime in the Mediterranean Sea, analyzes why management has failed, and then proposes policy changes to address this failure.2. The fisheries The Atlantic BFT, native to both west and east Atlantic Ocean, can be naturally divided into two groups: west1 and east Atlantic BFT, which differ both in their habitat and their life histories. Both groups of BFT are highly migratory and have a long life span of up to 30 years. In terms of fisheries, the east Atlantic BFT stock supports the eastern Atlantic Ocean area and theMediterranean Sea. In this paper, BFT fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea are the main focus. The BFT fishery in the Mediterranean Sea started in the 7th Millennium BC [16]. The popularity of Japanese sushi and sashimi worldwide during the 1980s made the BFT much more economically attractive than before [17,18]. For example, a single BFT was auctioned in the Tokyo market for USD 396,700 in 2011.2Consequently, vessel capacity, vessel power and new storage innovations for BFT experienced tremendous increases in the 1980s and 1990s, which imposed severe pressure on the BFT stock.

2.1. Bluefin Tuna fisheries and stock status Fig. 1 illustrates the BFT historic catch by gear type in the Mediterranean Sea from 1950 to 2005. This figure shows that from the 1950s to the early 1970s, total catches...