Oceana Finds ICCAT Incapable of Managing Bluefin Tuna and Sharks

RECIFE, Brazil--(Business Wire)--
According to Oceana, The International Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) failed to establish adequate management measures at its
meeting in Recife, Brazil this week for commercially valuable bluefin tuna and
sharks, whose populations have plummeted over recent decades.

Driven to the verge of collapse by the greed of the international market and
decades of mismanagement and illegal fishing, Atlantic bluefin tuna populations
are nearing the point of commercial extinction. ICCAT agreed to reduce the
fishing quota for eastern bluefin tuna for all Mediterranean and Eastern
Atlantic fleets from 22,000 tons to 13,500 tons as well as one additional month
of fishery closure for purse seiners and a promise to close the fishery if the
next scientific stock assessment shows a serious risk of collapse for the
species.

ICCAT`s management of bluefin tuna was recently called an "international
disgrace" by an independent review body. "Clearly ICCAT has not learned from its
mistakes and is willing to let sharks go the way of the bluefin tuna," said
Elizabeth Griffin, marine scientist at Oceana. In a meeting where proposals to
significantly advance shark conservation across the Atlantic were on the table,
only one measure was adopted, and only after it was weakened.

The measure prohibits retention and sale of bigeye threshers, one of the most
vulnerable and depleted shark species in the Atlantic. It also directs countries
to work to ensure that their fishing fleets are not targeting common or pelagic
thresher sharks and prohibits retention of these species in recreational
fisheries. The one exception being Mexico, which can land 110 bigeye threshers
each year.

"ICCAT chose to put financial and political considerations before the health of
our ocean`s top predators," said Max Bello, campaign director for Oceana South
America. "ICCAT`s failure to protect threatened shark species is completely
unacceptable."

For more information about declining populations and solutions, please read
Oceana`s ICCAT position papers about bluefin tuna and sharks. To read the
environmental group statement about bluefin tuna, click here.

Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world`s oceans. Oceana has more than
300,000 members and e-activists in over 150 countries. For more information,
please visit www.Oceana.org.

Oceana
Elizabeth Griffin, +1 202 271 5645
egriffin@oceana.org
or
María José Cornax, +34 672 221 678
mcornax@oceana.org
or
Maximiliano Bello, +56 9 79598867
mbello@oceana.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009