The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decided at its annual meeting on November 19 to expand the total allowable catch (TAC) of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna for 2013 by 500 tons from the previous year to 13,400 tons--the first increase in the past decade.
The decision was welcomed as good news in Japan, the largest consumer of tunas in the world.
But the margin of TAC increase is relatively small compared to Japan's annual tuna consumption, and the new quota is seen to give only limited impact on the price of bluefin, the highest-grade commodity among tuna species.
The bluefin tuna fishing ground in the Atlantic is divided into eastern and western areas.
The ICCAT Scientific Committee reported that the bluefin stock in the eastern Atlantic is on a recovery trend and the stock recovery would not be hampered even when 13,500 tons--the level in 2010--are caught.
The ICCAT member countries agreed to return the catch level to that in 2010 based on the recognition that the effects of its TAC reduction efforts since 2007 have been confirmed. The TAC for the western Atlantic, on the other hand, was kept unchanged.
The 2013 TAC for the eastern Atlantic, however, will stay much lower, when compared with the TAC of around 30,000 tons during the 2000-2008 period.
Tuna consumption in Japan in 2011, including imported tuna, stood at 680,000 tons, of which supply from the Atlantic was 12,700 tons. It remains to be seen to what extent Japan's tuna imports from the region will increase next year.
Japan's agriculture and fisheries minister Akira Gunji stated in a press conference after the Cabinet meeting on November 20 that he welcomes ICCAT’s TAC increase, but observed that the addition of 500 tons is unlikely to give any substantial impact on the market.
ICCAT plans to assess the stock in 2014 again. There is an expectation in Japan's fisheries industry that the stock recovery will further advance, with quota being further increased.