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Final <strong>Report</strong>
RoO Derogation under the PACP-IEPA
As detailed in Section 6.1, species-based product differentiation is an important dynamic in principal
EU markets. It is also a major element in the business strategies of the EU DWF. Depending upon
fishing season by oceanic sub-region, some fishing firms focus primarily on targeting higher priced
yellowfin and others on catching larger quantities of less valuable skipjack. For example, in very
general terms, the larger boats in the Spanish-owned fleet in the Western Indian Ocean target
predominantly skipjack through their operational focus on using man-made fish aggregating devices
(FADs), while the French fleet catches proportionality more yellowfin by setting their nets on freely
swimming schools. 271 It can be safely assumed that yellowfin caught by the EU DWF is inserted
predominantly into EU markets because of the price premium that canned yellowfin receives there.
Figure 6.6 EU Canning-grade Tropical Tuna Catch: all regions, gears, all fishing areas (in tonnes),
1950-2009
350,000
300,000
250,000
Spain France* Portugal
Tonnes
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
* Combines catch for Italy (1 Italian-flagged purse seine vessel from 1997 onwards)
Notes: Catch data are for bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin. Bigeye tuna are included because juveniles of this species are
regularly caught during fishing on FADs. Due to minimal catch volumes, the following EU27 Member states are not
depicted in the figure - Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and the UK.
Source: FAO Fish StatJ (accessed 14 October 2011).
As illustrated in Figure 6.6, the main two players in the EU DWF are Spain and France. 272 The rapid
drop-off in catches from 2007 is mainly due to declining catch rates in the Western Indian Ocean
where two main factors have affected resource extraction:
1. The activities of Somali pirates is a major problem for the EU DWF operating there, including
273
attacks on and the capture of EU purse seiners.
271 Campling forthcoming; Guillotreau et al. 2011.
272 Portugal is only a very minor player and is not assessed in this report.
273 See various issues of FFA Fisheries Trade News for an overview: http://www.ffa.int/trade_news
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