7. INTRODUCTION TO THE SUMMARY REPORTS BASED ON THE NATIONAL SURVEYS

The main objective of the survey was to collect comprehensive and detailed data on the development of bluefin tuna farming/fattening practices in the Mediterranean, with special focus on the current situation. The survey was composed of three main sections: (1) capture fisheries, (2) farming/fattening practices and (3) marketing.

A first set of survey reports were compiled and submitted by the following Mediterranean countries: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Turkey. Furthermore, some information on activities in Israel, Lebanon and Syria were unofficially provided by the University of Istanbul (Turkey). A report was also made available by Japan as a member of the General Fisheries Commission on the Mediterranean (GFCM) and due to the important role played by the country with regards to the imports and consumption of bluefin tuna.

The information provided in the attached capture fisheries, aquaculture and marketing summaries (Annexes 8-10) has been compiled from the first set and updated surveys^[10] submitted to the Ad Hoc GFCM/ICCAT Working Group on Sustainable Bluefin Tuna Farming/Fattening Practices in the Mediterranean. In some sections additional information has also been extracted from other available official reports. The information source is indicated if extracted from reports other than the survey reports mentioned above

The summaries have been prepared by selected participants of the Working Group.

8. SUMMARY REPORT ON BLUEFIN TUNA CAPTURE FISHING FOR FARMING/FATTENING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

Prepared by
Jordi Lleonart and Jacek Majkowski
(FAO Fisheries Department, Rome)

This Summary is limited to the information provided in response to the national surveys submitted described in Annex 7; it is not supplemented by that from other sources as it was beyond its scope. Therefore, it refers only to the countries that provided information. The authors did not include information of no or marginal relevance to the questions posed in the Survey, eliminating, at least, some inconsistencies.

BLUEFIN VESSELS AND THEIR OPERATIONS

All the countries that provided information are involved in catching bluefin for farming with the exception of Cyprus, Japan and Morocco. All countries with farming activities receive bluefin caught by other countries. Several countries catching bluefin for farming are also involved in their transport (excluding Cyprus, France and Malta). Some farming countries (Croatia, Spain and Turkey) do not use foreign flag vessels for transport bluefin to their farms. The table below provides additional information on these operations.

According to the surveys received, there are about 235 purse seiners able to fish bluefin the Mediterranean (not necessarily all doing it). This number is underestimated because the Algerian and Tunisian vessels are not included. France, Italy, Croatia and Turkey have more than 20 vessels, each.

The table below provides information on vessels involved in fishing bluefin in the Mediterranean and their fishing operation. In this table, some countries did not included vessels other than purse seiners (used for fishing bluefin for farming). Vessels of most countries cooperate to find bluefin for fishing and France and Spain use aerial search. Usually the fishing season is from March/April to October.

CATCHES AND FISHING EFFORT

The table below provides estimates of annual catches by country and year. Large catches were reported by France, Italy, Morocco and Turkey.

The total catches reported in the surveys are smaller from those given in the FAO FISHSTAT+ database (updated to 2003). Even for 2002, which is the year with most complete data from the surveys, 17 000 tonnes reported in the surveys is much smaller than the estimate of total catch in 2002 from FISHTAT+ (22 400 tonnes) and the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 29 500. Data from FISHSTAT+ and the surveys also do not match for most individual countries.

With a fleet of 38 purse seiners and with an annual catch of more than 6 000 tonnes, France is the most important country fishing bluefin. Italy is the second one, with 86 purse seiners catching more than 3 000 tonnes of bluefin per year. Morocco is also important, but its catches are not used for farming. These countries reported catches quite below their ICCAT quotas. The catches reported by Spain include all fishing techniques (purse seine, longline and others).

There is no ICCAT quota specifically allocated to Turkey. The Turkish quota is a part of the quota for "other countries" which is around 1 000 tonnes by year. In response to the survey, Turkey reported a catch larger than the quota for all "other countries" (same as for FISHSTAT+) with 1 600 tonnes introduced to cages.

Regarding fishing effort, most of the data presented refers to the number of vessels. Only Morocco reported the number of days at sea, but this country is not involved in fishing for farming.

The table below provides information on the range of weights of bluefin caught (in kg). For all the countries, these ranges are very wide.

The table below provides information on the mean weight of bluefin caught (in kg). Bluefin catches of Libya and Morocco seem to be dominated by very large fish. Spain mentioned that the large tuna (100-200 kg) are caught in June/July while in August/September the individuals weight are 15 to 20 kg.

The table below provides percentages of catches that were used for farming. With the exception of Morocco, these percentages are generally above 50 percent and for Croatia and Turkey 100 percent or close to it. Since 1996, the percentages have increased continuously, so currently most of the bluefin catch in the Mediterranean is used for farming.

COUNTRIES OF DESTINATION FOR FARMING

Data on relationships between fishing and farming countries are requested in several parts of the survey. In this chapter, all data were summarized in a single table below.

The table provides information in which country bluefin was farmed (country of destination) after catching them by the country specified in the first column (country of origin) of the table. Inside the cells, there are the names of the countries that provided the information. For example, according to France, bluefin caught by France was transported to Cyprus, Malta and Spain. Cyprus and Spain confirmed it, but not Malta. Furthermore, Croatia, Greece and Italy declared that they receive bluefin from France. In general, for the 27 cells filled in the table, in only four cases, both the "fishing" and "farming" countries involved provided consistent information. This refers to bluefin caught by France and transported for farming to Cyprus and Spain and to bluefin caught by Italy and transported for farming to Croatia and Malta. Spain and Turkey declared the import of bluefin from "other" countries. However, none of the countries declares exports to Turkey. Greece declared that it farmed bluefin caught by Greek vessels, but Greece did not report any bluefin catch.

According to Turkey, bluefin caught by South Korean vessels are farmed in Turkey. Spain also reported import and export from and to "other" non-specified countries. According to Libya, France is a destination of the bluefin caught by Libya. However, considering that France is not involved in farming, this information refers probably to transhipments.

MAGNITUDE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CATCH

Several methods are used to estimate the catches used for farming. Croatia and Turkey use underwater video recording. Estimates by other countries are from logbooks or by counting bluefin using some non-specified methods. Estimates of size composition are difficult to obtain during the fishing process and only Turkey seems to have such estimates from video recordings and from died specimens. Other countries obtain size estimates during the farming process. All reporting countries pointed out the uncertainties of these estimates.

ESTIMATES OF MORTALITY

Estimates of bluefin mortality during purse seining and transport are very variable from one country to another. In the fishing process, values between 0.5 percent and 15 percent were reported. The mortality estimates in the transport cover also a wide range, but apparently are lower than those during fishing (except in the case of Turkey).

TRADE

The trade of catches for farming among countries is quite complex, as it was shown before and the information provided seems to be incomplete (see following table).

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS

The socio-economic issues seem to be quite variable among countries, but the responses to these questions are scarce. Subsidies exist in France for fleet renewal, but not in Croatia. However, no general conclusions can be obtained from the information provided.

INTERACTIONS

Greece and Libya reported no interactions between tuna fishing for farming and other fishing activities. Malta communicated some conflicts between purse seining and longlining. In Croatia interactions with other fishing activities and minor conflicts with tourism occur. Turkey noted interactions between artisanal fisheries and tourism.