SCRS/2009/189 - iccat

SCRS/2009/189 Collect. Vol. Sci. Pap. ICCAT, 65(3): 1004-1043 (2010)
THE EASTERN ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA: ENTANGLED IN A
BIG MESS, POSSIBLY FAR FROM A CONSERVATION RED ALERT.
SOME COMMENTS AFTER THE PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
BLUEFIN TUNA IN CITES APPENDIX I
A. Di Natale 1
SUMMARY
The eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) has been facing a difficult management
situation since more than one decade, after the start of tuna caging activities which induced a
sort of “gold rush” and a lot of additional problems in data collection. This was the major
issue, which caused the growing unreliability of the stock assessments carried out by the ICCAT
SCRS. These are only the last issues of a situation where partial and unreliable data, very
partial biological and ethological knowledge of this species, and very minor knowledge of the
effects of environmental changes on bluefin tuna biology and distribution, along with some
scientists reading only a part of the immense literature on bluefin tuna which are feeding a sort
of incredible game, where some economic interests are trying to push the free fishery (or,
towards the opposite, a closed fishery!) and NGOs are pushing for full protection of the species,
to prevent an hypothetical collapse. Herewith the author discusses the main issues, with the
objective of helping to bring the analysis on the status of this iconic species along a rail of
reality.
RÉSUMÉ
Le thon rouge de l’Atlantique est (Thunnus thynnus) est confronté à une gestion difficile depuis
plus d’une décennie, après le début des activités de mise en cage du thon, ce qui a engendré une
sorte de « ruée vers l’or » et une série de problèmes supplémentaires dans la collecte des
données. Cela représentait le problème principal et a donné lieu à une augmentation du
manque de fiabilité des évaluations des stocks réalisées par le SCRS de l’ICCAT. Il s’agit
uniquement des derniers problèmes d’une situation dans laquelle des données partielles et non
fiables, des connaissances biologiques et éthologiques très limitées sur cette espèce ainsi que
des connaissances très restreintes des effets des changements environnementaux sur la biologie
et la distribution du thon rouge, ainsi que le fait que certains scientifiques ne lisent seulement
qu’une partie de l’immense quantité de publications sur le thon rouge et alimentent une sorte
d’enchère insurmontable, au sein de laquelle certains intérêts économiques tentent
d’encourager la pêcherie libre (ou, au contraire, la fermeture de la pêche) et les ONG
réclament la protection complète de l’espèce afin d’empêcher une extinction hypothétique.
L’auteur aborde dans le présent document les points principaux, afin de contribuer à placer
l’analyse de la situation de cette espèce emblématique dans un contexte réel.
RESUMEN
El atún rojo del Atlántico este (Thunnus thynnus) se enfrenta a una situación difícil en lo
que concierne a su ordenación desde hace más de una década, tras el inicio de las
actividades de introducción en jaulas que generaron una especie de “fiebre del oro”, y de
una serie de problemas adicionales en lo que concierne a la recopilación de datos. Este
ha sido el problema principal que ha generado una creciente falta de fiabilidad en las
evaluaciones de stock realizadas por el SCRS de ICCAT. Estos son sólo los últimos
problemas en una situación en la que datos parciales y no fiables y un conocimiento
etológico y biológico muy parcial de esta especie, así como un conocimiento muy pequeño
de los efectos de los cambios medioambientales en la distribución y biología del atún
rojo, combinados con el hecho de que algunos científicos lean sólo una parte de la
ingente bibliografía existente sobre el atún rojo, están alimentando una especie de juego
increíble en el que algunos intereses económicos intentan fomentar la pesquería libre (o,
1 Aquastudio Research Institute, Via Trapani 6, 98121 Messina, Italy.
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1. Foreword
por el contrario, una cierre de la pesquería), y las ONG intentan conseguir una
protección plena de la especie, para evitar un hipotético colapso. En este documento el
autor debate los principales problemas, con el objetivo de contribuir a acercar a la
realidad el análisis del estado de esta especie icónica.
KEYWORDS
Bluefin tuna, conservation, CITES, ICCAT, population structure,
catch composition, data collection, pelagic fisheries, large pelagic species, overfishing
This paper is not a traditional scientific paper. It is mostly a sort of independent short revision of a huge and even
largely incomplete amount of scientific papers, ICCAT reports and various types of documents about the
situation of the most important species managed by ICCAT, the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus) which
rapidly became an icon for many environmental organisations and the media and big business for some
commercial entities.
This paper is mainly a desperate attempt to bring the discussion on the bluefin tuna along a rail of reality, taking
into account the many problems about the controversial status of this species, the data issues and the general
knowledge, as well as the impact of various assessments and papers on the actual situation.
2. Introduction
According to archaeological findings, bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus, 1758) was first exploited in the
Mediterranean Sea more than 11200 years ago. The first document known on the bluefin tuna fishery is engraved
on the walls of the Genovese’s Cave on the isle of Levanzo (Egadi Islands, W. Sicily, Italy), dated about 9,200
years B.C. It is clear that since these remote times, bluefin tuna was regularly a common food resource for the
Mediterranean inhabitants and a basic component in their diet (Curtis, 1991; Dumont, 1981; Powell, 1996). Later
images, like the “Siciliota” pottery from the IV century B.C. kept at the Mandralisca Museum in Cefalù (Sicily,
Italy), show a common trade of bluefin tuna that was marketed fresh at that time.
Evidences of tuna factories were found in many places along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea (Purpura, 1989,
1992; Trousset, 1990) and even inland, like in the Roman ruins in Madrid. The history of the long exploitation of
the bluefin tuna is strictly linked to the Mediterranean culture and several tracks can be easily found in many
classical works from the II century B.C. to the II century A.D. (see the reprinted works by Plinius, 1553; Esopo,
1592; Aristotelis in Athaeneus, 1653; Athaeneus, 1653; Parthenii, 1689; Oppianus, 1738), but including also
Strabonium, Eschilus, Homerus, Solinus and Eustazius. Relatively more recent transcriptions about ancient and
historical information can be found also in Mattioli (1568), Gesner (1606), Aldrovandi (1638) and Jonstonius
(1649), while Curtis (1988), Merino (1991), Ponsich & Tarradell (1965) and Sancho de Sopranis (1948) provide
a detailed description of some ancient practices.
A careful reading of these classical works reveals not only the long fishing activities, but also many interesting
aspects of bluefin tuna biology and ethology, which are often forgotten and sometimes rediscovered ex-novo by
several young colleagues. The most interesting information is related to the periodic migrations between the
Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Plinius, 1553; Aristotelis in Athaeneus, 1653), confirming the
existence of a possible subpopulation in the Black Sea until recent times and the environmental collapse that
occurred in this Sea, discussed in a following part of this document.
The biology of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, Linnaeus, 1758) and particularly of the Atlantic populations is
that of a marine top predator having a long natural history. Many aspects of its biology and stock composition
are well known (Abascal et al., 2003; Arena, 1990b, Arena et al., 1980; Aricò & Genovese, 1953; Bard & Le
Gall, 1979; Bard et al., 1978; Block et al., 1978; Carey, 1973; Collette et al., 2001; Corriero et al., 2003, 2005;
Cort, 1990, 2010 in press; Cort et al., 1995, 2009; De Buen, 1925); De la Serna et al., 1998; De Metrio et al.,
1988, 1997, 2003a, 2003b; Dicenta & Piccinetti, 1977, 1980; Dicenta et al., 1975; Di Natale, 1988b, 1989,
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2004b, 2007; Di Natale et al., 2003, 2005b, 2006b, 2006c; Duclerc et al., 1973, 1974; Farrugio, 1980, 1981;
Frade, 1925; Ely et al., 2002; Fournestin & Dardignac, 1962; Fromentin, 2002a; Fromentin et al., 2000; Garcia
et al., 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Garibaldi F., 2004; Genovese, 1953a, 1956a, 1956b, 1958, 1960; Gordoa et al., 2009;
Heldt, 1927, 1932; Karakulak et al., 2004a, 2004b; Lalami et al., 1973; Lanteri, 2007; Liorzou & Bigot, 1995;
Liorzou et al., 2001; Mather et al., 1974, 1995; Morovic, 1961; Oray et al., 2005; Oray & Karakulak, 2005; Orsi
Relini, in press; Orsi Relini et al., 1994, 1995°, 1995b, 1997, 1998, 1999a, 1999b, 2007; Ottolenghi & Cerasi,
2008; Piccinetti, 1973, 1995; Piccinetti et al., 1977, 1981, 1995, 1999; Piccinetti & Piccinetti Manfrin, 1979,
1980; Piccinetti-Manfrin, 1970, 1994; Relini et al., 1995; Richards, 1976; Rivas, 1978; Rodriguez-Roda, 1964;
1967, 1969c, 1975; Roule, 1913, 1914a, 1914b, 1916a, 1916b, 1917a, 1917b, 1917c, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1923,
1925; Safina, 2001; Sanz Brau, 1990; Sanzo, 1909, 1910, 1932; Sarà, 1973; Scaccini, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1968;
Scaccini et al., 1975; Scordia, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934a, 1934c, 1935b, 1936a, 1937a, 1937b, 1938b, 1939a;
Sella, 1924, 1929b, 1932; Spagnolio, 1938), while many others are still unknown. The recent genetic studies
sometimes provides useful pieces of the biological puzzle of this species, while some others are putting new
questions (Alvarado Bremer et al., 2005; Broughton & Gold, 1997; Cimmaruta et al., 1999; Carlsson et al.,
2004; Clark et al., 2004; Ely et al., 2002; Ferrara et al., in press; Landi et al., 2007; McDowell et al., 2002;
Riccioni et al., in press; Tagaki et al., 1999; Vella, 2009). At the same time, this species is considered a good
ecological indicator, a mirror of the different concentrations of pollutants (Corsolini et al., 1999; Licata et al.,
2005; Orsi Relini et al., 2007)
The fishery of the bluefin tuna is also a part of the story of the human bean: besides the tuna traps, that are
discussed later in detail, the fishery was always a mirror of the advanced technologies, starting from simple hand
lines to the modern and sophisticated tuna purse seiners (Arena, 1982d, 1986b, 1990a, 1990c; Arena et al., 1980;
Arena & Di Natale, 1987; Bard & Le Gall, 1979; Bellón Uriarte, 1926; Berthelot, 1868; Cau, 1991, 1996; Cau et
al., 1999; Cavallaro et al., 1996; D’Amanich, 1954; De La Blanchère, 1868; De la Serna et al., 1998; Desse &
Desse-Berset, 1994; De Stefano, 2006; Dieuzeide, 1931; De Metrio et al., 1999; Di Natale, 1988a, 1988c, 1990,
1991, 1996, 1999; Di Natale et al., 1987, 1988a, 1988b, 1989, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2004; 2005a, 2005b, 2006a; Di
Natale & Mangano, 2008; Doumenge, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1998; Duhamel de Monceaus, 1769-1782; Duviard,
1992; Farrugio, 1978, 1980, 1981; Ferrandis Ballester et al., 1997; Ferraro, 1986; Fromentin, 2002, 2003;
Gordoa et al., 2004; Heldt, 1932; La Marhadour, 1914; Liorzou & Bigot, 1991; Liorzou et al., 2001; Mackenzie
& Mayers, 2007; Mackenzie et al., 2009; Mielgo Bregazzi, 2006, 2008, 2009; Ninni, 1917, 1921a; Northridge et
al., 1991; Oren & Ben Tuvia, 1954, 1959; Orsi Relini et al., 1993, 1996; Ottolenghi & Cerasi, 2008; Parona,
1919; Pommereau, 1955; Pavesi, 1889; Piccinetti, 1980; Piccinetti & Farrugio, 1980; Piccinetti & Piccinetti
Manfrin, 1999; Potoschi & Sturiale, 1999; Rodriguez Santamaria, 1923; Roule, 1914a, 1914b, 1916a, 1921;
1924; 1925; Sañez Reguart, 1781; Sarà, 1963; Scaccini, 1951, 1953, 1965, 1973; Scaccini & Biancalana, 1959;
Scordia, 1934b, 1936b, 1940a; Sella, 1929b; Sion et al., 1999; Susca et al., 2001).
The recent adoption of the caging system in the Mediterranean to increase the added value of the fattened tuna
on the market can be tracked in the papers by De Stefano & Van Der Heijden (2007), D’Amico & La Via
(2007); Di Trapani (2008); Doumenge (1999), Katavic et al. (2003), Lioka et al., 2000, Mielgo Bregazzi (2006,
2008, 2009), Miyake et al. (2003), Ottolenghi & Cerasi (2008) Piccinetti (1980) and Repetto et al. (2001).
The story of the bluefin tuna fishery also shows large temporal holes over the centuries, maybe because it was a
common activity and possibly the literature was mostly dealing with more elegant issues. It is also true that the
same holes exist in several natural history areas.
According to what Aristotelis (in Athaeneus, 1653) said, “thynnum esse tradit gregalem ac locum mutare”, this
species is a very migrant one, able to cross the ocean in a short time, and to carefully read the chemical and
physical messages from the sea waters. The bluefin tuna migrations are huge and only partly known even today.
Big changes in the distribution pattern have been reported so far, but most of them are known in the last century
(Aloncle, 1964; Arena, 1971; Brill, 1994; Brill & Lutcavage, 2001; Cort & Liorzou, 1991, 1995; Cort & De la
Serna, 1994; Cort & Rey, 1983; De Metrio, 2005; De Metrio et al., 2001; Fromentin, 2002b; Genovese, 1959;
ICCAT, 2009; Lozano Cabo, 1959a, 1959b; Mather 1962a, 1962b; Mather et al., 1967, 1974, 1995; Naccari,
1872; Ninni, 1922; Pavesi, 1887; Rey, 1979, 1992, 1999; Rivas, 1976; Rodríguez-Marín et al., 2009; Rodriguez-
Roda, 1959, 1969b, 1980a, 1983; Rooker et al., 2007; Roule, 1924b; Sarà, 1963, 1964; Scordia, 1938, 1939a,
1940b; Sella, 1926a, 1926b, 1927, 1929, 1930,1931, 1932).
It is very difficult to track the story of this fishery through the centuries until the 16 th century, because the
information is scattered in poems, literature, romances and commercial notes. Only from 1500 onwards is it
possible to find some good reports and even figures and engravings, beginning from Braun & Ogenberg (1572-
1617), which help us to better understand how the exploitation was developed in the last 500 years.
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But it is not the case to re-write this long story, because it is written and well described in many papers, here
included in the bibliography, which anyway is largely incomplete 2 ; for further old references, see the import and
review made by Corwin (1930). But it is important to bear in mind some important steps of the bluefin tuna
fishery over the centuries and particularly in the most recent times, trying to better understand the actual
situation.
At the same time, it is important to point out the incoherencies and the gaps in our current knowledge, with the
purpose to address the various issues in the proper way.
3. The trap fishery
The tuna trap fishery was apparently initiated by Phoenicia (Aubet, 1987, Bacci, 1982, 1984, Basile, 1992; Ben
Lazreg et al., 1995) and then continued by the Romans and the Arabs, and all the following people inhabiting the
Mediterranean coasts, the adjacent areas in the Strait of Bosphorus and the South Spanish and South Portuguese
coasts in the Atlantic Ocean (Bresc, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1987).
It is not clear to understand with which gear this fishery was carried out in ancient times. According to some
early engravings at the end of the 16 th century (Braun & Hogenberg, 1572-1617), it is sure that tuna traps were
using not only set trap nets, but also huge beach seines, sometimes of various types. This is something not
commonly known, having a great relevance to better understand the distribution of tuna schools, which were
clearly very close to the coast at that time.
Later on and particularly in the 18 th century, there are not many tracks of these beach seines, while the set tuna
traps have a lot of detailed information and many drawings and engravings tell us a lot of details (Cetti, 1777;
Doneddu, 1983; Duhamel de Monceau, 1769-1782; Gaetani, 1797; Gaetani di Villabianca, 1795; Mongitore,
1743; Pugnatore, 1595; Sañez Reguart, 1781; Sarmiento, 1757; Valle, 1800). On the contrary, the information
about the distribution of tuna traps along the coasts is very incomplete and only in a few areas there is a good list
of the tuna traps active at that time.
Several tuna traps were used also to catch small tuna species together with the bluefin tuna (Mouton, 2004;
Cattaneo Vietti & Bava, 2009), and this fact caused some confusion in the past to properly understand the
number of traps effectively targeting only bluefin tuna.
At the end of the 19 th century there are good maps available and then there is the possibility to better understand
how and where the bluefin tuna issues were carried out at that time, mostly by using the maps provided by
Pavesi (1899) and Parona (1919).
Many other scientific works report data on the tuna trap fishery (Abid & Idrissi, 2009; Alliata, 1951; Angotsi,
1901, 1927; Anonimous, 1952; Arena, 1963, 1985, 1986a; Arena & Li Greci, 1970; Avolio, 1805; Belloc, 1961;
Consolo, 1986; Costanza, 2000; D’Amico, 1816; Dean et al., 2003; De Cristofaro, 1970; De Miranda y Riveras,
1927; De Salas & García Solá, 1876; Di Natale, 1988a, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2008; Di Natale et al., 2006a; Di
Natale & Notarbartolo di Sciara, 1994; Doumenge, 1998; Fernandez Gómez, 2007; Ganiage, 1960; Genovese,
1952, 1953b, 1960; Gordillo Acosta, 1984; Guaiana, 2000; Guggino, 1977; Guggino et al., 1977; Italiano, 2006;
Lemos & Gomes, 2004; Li Greci et al., 1991; Lippi Guidi, 1993; Lo Coco, 2006; Lo Curzio & Sisci, 1991;
Maggio, 2000; Manetti, 2001; Mariotti, 2003; Martelli, 1926: Mert et al., 2000; Militello, 1937; Mondardini,
1999; Ninni, 1921b, Piccinetti & Omiccioli, 1999; Ravazza, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005; Ravier-Mailly,
2003; Rodríguez-Roda, 1964, 1966a, 1966b, 1967, 1969a, 1970a, 1970b, 1977, 1980b; Roule, 1921, 1926;
Rubino, 1995; Sarà, 1983, 1988; Scaccini, 1965; Scaccini & Pagnanella, 1965a, 1965b; Scordia, 1925, 1930,
1931, 1933, 1934a, 1936c, 1937c, 1939b; Sechi, 1918; Sole, 1965; Silvestri, 2003; Volpi Lisjiak, 1996).
Table 1 shows in very clearly that the number of tuna traps was very important in the Mediterranean and in the
adjacent areas and, at the same time, that the number of traps in each country varied considerably in the short
period taken into account by Pavesi (1899) and Parona (1919).
2 The author apologises for any omissions in the bibliography, due to time constrains that prevented a more in-depth analysis of the numerous
scientific papers presented to the ICCAT SCRS in the last decades, which have nonetheless been considered in the text. The literature
included in this text is mostly dedicated to papers that are often forgotten or other relevant scientific works. Any omission is not by deliberate
will.
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How these variations can be interpreted is not easy. In some cases there was an export of know-how from some
countries to others, in other cases they were possibly caused by a different availability of the bluefin tuna in
some coastal areas, either in a positive or negative sense.
Due to the fact that tuna farms were real industries, the economic factors could be also a part of these changes
over time, but a much more in-depth and specific analysis is necessary to better and more properly explore the
data, while detailed information is not available for most of the factories and it is often preserved in hand-written
old logbooks, sitting in unknown places or archives (in some cases, these archives are in local churches, because
there was the tradition to provide a quota of the income to the local church, as a sign of devotion). In other cases,
economic information can be found in official publications dealing with annual permits or annual catch reports.
At the same time, it is important to note the stability reported in Malta, possibly as the result of no relevant
changes in this key area in the central Mediterranean Sea, and in Turkey, where the number of the many tuna
traps was stable over these 20 years. This last situation is particularly relevant, because it is strictly related to the
migration of bluefin tuna from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea and vice versa, a situation which had completely
changed in the last part of the 20 th century (Devedian, 1926; Iyigungor, 1957; Karakulak, 2000; Mert et al.,
2000; Sarà, 1963). At the same time, the relevant number of Turkish traps at the beginning of the 20 th century
confirms the massive presence of bluefin tuna in this extreme Eastern Mediterranean area, supporting the
economy of 26 factories.
Tuna traps were often very concentrated in some coastal areas, where the passage of bluefin tuna was more
abundant or common and the map provided by Parona (1919) is able to give a clear overview of the distribution
of tuna traps along the coasts (see Figures 4a and 4b).
From the maps provided both by Pavesi (1889) and Parona (1919), it is very clear that the areas having the
highest concentration of tuna traps were those in the central Mediterranean Sea, with other peaks at the two
geographic extremes, close to the Strait of Gibraltar and the Strait of Bosphorus.
The tuna trap fishery, according to Avolio (1805), was carried out in the Mediterranean from March to June in
the 18 th century. This period is slightly different from the actual one, which is usually from May to June. The
fishing season is broader if the tuna traps located in the Atlantic are taken into account, because in this area the
fishery is carried out from April to August.
Actually, there are only a few traps still active and not all of them are fishing every year. Seventeen traps are
active in Morocco, all in the Atlantic (Abid & Idrissi, 2009) but with 7 new traps activated since 2007, five are in
Italy (only three, all located in Sardinia, were fishing in 2009), four are in Spain (all in the Atlantic) and one is in
Libya, while others in various places still have their nets and equipment but are no longer active.
The tuna trap fishery has very high cultural and socio-economic value and some countries had already officially
recognised it. The buildings forming the land structure of each tuna trap have very high historical and
architectural value, sometimes also recognised by the UNESCO. The huge staffs working in each tuna trap and
the Rais (the specialist in charge of heading and driving the fishing activities) are all highly specialised, and they
cannot be easily replaced and their knowledge is a patrimony to be preserved, as well as for the other aspects of
the tuna trap fishery.
The most important point that is necessary to discuss in this paper is why this fishing activity had so many
changes over time and in which way these can help in better understanding the current problems of the bluefin
tuna. It is sufficiently clear that several changes in the tuna trap fishery are strictly related to problems which are
far from the total abundance of the biomass in the area (Mediterranean and Atlantic together) and this can
provide arguments for our discussion.
The complexity of the various situations needs to restrict the analysis to a few points, which appear particularly
interesting: the lower availability of bluefin tuna along most of the coasts and the total disappearance of the
Turkish traps in the Bosphorus in the last quarter of the 20 th century.
The first point is maybe the most difficult to examine, because it concerns mostly the alteration of the coastal
environment over time. The increasing number of new, large harbours in all countries, the incredible increment
in the inhabitants along the coast, the concentration of several production and industrial activities in coastal areas
and the modification of the quality and quantity of river inputs to the sea had progressively caused many changes
in the chemical and physical parameters of the sea water in coastal areas.
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Furthermore, the level of noise had incredibly increased, at first at the end of the 20 th century, when engines were
largely introduced in merchant marine and military vessels, and after the 2 nd World War when engines were also
commonly adopted by fishing vessels and leisure boats. It is difficult to specifically attribute values to each
single location, but there are several scientific evidences about the impact of anthropogenic activities on some
tuna traps (Addis et al., 2009; Di Gregori & Massoli-Novelli, 1992; Grassi, 1913; Mazzarelli, 1917).
This resulted in a decreasing availability of the bluefin tuna in various areas independent from the total
abundance of the stock. It is clear that bluefin tuna moved from coastal waters to more offshore waters (cleaner
and quieter) in several areas, but they continued to pass along the historic migration courses in some areas. These
facts will provide a different key to read the yields history in this fishing activity and possibly even in others.
The second point is one of the less considered when discussing the Mediterranean populations of bluefin tuna
within the larger East Atlantic stock: the issue of the Black Sea bluefin tuna sub-population. Since historical
times there are many evidences of massive movements of bluefin tuna from the Black Sea to the East
Mediterranean for spawning (Figure 5) and then again back to the Black Sea for wintering.
This sub-population was there for many centuries until the second part of the 20 th century, when it suddenly
almost disappeared. Zaitsev and Mamaiev (1997) and Kideys (2004) show how fast the decrease of the
population occurred, until the disappearance of any catch of bluefin tuna in the Black Sea waters of Bulgaria
around 1971 (Figure 6). Karakulak and Oray (2009) show how purse seine catches moved from the area in the
Black Sea close to the Bosphorus to the eastern Mediterranean in the last decades.
The bluefin tuna finally disappeared completely from the Black Sea, even from Turkish waters close to the
Bosphorus, in 1988 3 .
Even in this case, besides the opinion by Daskalov (2003), it seems that the abundance in the Black Sea area was
not related to a direct fishery, but was affected by several collapses in the Black Sea environment (partly related
to fishery issues), which apparently forced the remaining bluefin tuna population to move into the Mediterranean
Sea. There are no scientific studies about the further distribution of this sub-population in the Mediterranean, but
it is strongly suspected that these tunas remained mostly in the eastern part of the basin, because of their natural
history tradition and the quality of the water there. This fact can be part of the reason why the Turkish fishery
obtained such good results in the last part of the 20 th century and why genetic studies reveal a difference between
east and west tuna subpopulations in the Mediterranean Sea (Carp, 1951; Devedjian, 1926, Iyigungor, 1957;
Karakulak, 1999, 2000, 2003; Karakulak & Oray, 2009; Kideys, 2004; Merty et al., 2000; Oray et al., 2005;
Piccinetti et al., 1995; Piccinetti-Manfrin et al., 1995; Sarà, 1963; Tekin, 2000; Zaitsev, 2003; Zaitsev &
Manaiev, 1997). This was also the possible motivation for closing the Turkish tuna trap activities in the Strait of
Bosphorus. Again, even in this case, it is clear that bluefin tuna abundance in the various areas was mostly
affected by environmental and behavioural factors other than direct fishery ones.
4. The behavioural aspects
Bluefin tuna is a well developed species and a marine top predator. The behaviour is a very important and
essential component of its life, even if we know only a few aspects of bluefin tuna behaviour.
Ancient papers provided much information about the apparent behaviour of this species, while several papers in
the 17 th , 18 th and 19 th centuries improved our knowledge, because scientists were spending a lot of time at sea, or
in fishing areas, or collecting direct information from the fishermen. Only in the last part of the 20 th century, by
using more modern technologies, it was possible to better study some behavioural and ethological aspects of
bluefin tuna, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea (Bridges at al., 2009; Block et al., 2001, 2005; De Metrio,
2004, 2005; De Metrio et al., 2001, 2003), even if several problems are still existing (Fromentin, 2002b).
Thanks to the experience obtained from the use of aerial spotting to better catch bluefin tuna with modern
Mediterranean purse seiners 4 , the distribution and composition of the various schools of bluefin tuna were
studied by aerial observations by Farrugio (1979), Arena (1980, 1981, 1982a, 1982b, 1982c) and Fromentin et
3 In recent times, with the partial improvement of the environmental situation in the Black Sea, bluefin tuna are slowly reappearing in that
basin. In 2007, in late November, a few specimens were caught in the Marmara Sea and in the nearest areas of the Black Sea. In the same
period, juveniles having a size (about 700 g) much smaller than the usual size at that time of the year were found on the market in Istanbul,
providing evidence of possible reproduction in areas having a temperature colder than in other Mediterranean areas.
4 Aerial spotting for fishing bluefin tuna has been banned in the Mediterranean since 2006.
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al. (2003). It was clear that the composition of each tuna school was correlated to a very precise strategy of the
bluefin tuna, particularly during the spawning period. In these years, the shape and composition of the various
groups of bluefin tuna were deeply analysed and revealed complexities not known before. From Figure 7
(Arena, 1982a) it is clear that the strategy adopted by each school in the genetic period was able to affect the size
frequencies in catches, but this fact is never taken into account when catch are analysed or used in VPA. Not all
schools are the same in size composition, even in the same area.
The aerial observations were checked with landing controls, having a direct and scientific confirmation of the
size frequencies reported by the observers. The fishermen’s choice is an important component of this fishery,
together with the school composition and those factors combined are able to strongly interfere with our
understanding of the size composition of the stock. This is particularly relevant also because purse seine catches
represent more than 80% of the East bluefin tuna catch.
The effects of climate changes or oceanographic anomalies on Atlantic bluefin tuna behaviour, particularly on
mass movements, have been known for years (Bonhommeau et al., 2010 in press; Di Natale, 2007; Fromentin
2002b; Fromentin et al., 2000; Lemos & Gomes, 2004; Mackenzie & Myers, 2007; Ravier-Mailly, 2003; Ravier
& Fromentin, 2001, 2004; Roule, 1921), but the recent mass movements of this species have not been studied so
far, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea.
The tuna schools showed a different composition after the great change noticed around 1996, when the major
concentration of bluefin tuna moved away from the major spawning area in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Figure
8) going to the South Mediterranean and also to the East Mediterranean. This situation, possibly linked to
oceanographic factors (Di Natale, 2007), was partly reverted since 2006, when several groups of spawners
returned again to the South Tyrrhenian Sea. In the meantime, according to the catch composition concerning
purse seine catches moved into cages, the schools were more mixed, with a higher presence of new spawners
(fish around year classes 3 to 4). In the new situation, the typical shapes of the tuna schools in the spawning
period as studied by Arena (1982) became less defined, even if the “caravan” and “cone” shapes were among the
most frequent. But, even in these cases, the size distribution within the schools was more mixed and less defined.
Shortening the fishing period induced fishermen to maximize the yields and not to make any choice among the
schools depending on size composition.
Recent papers (Bonhommeau et al., in press; Fromentin et al., 2003; Sorell Baron, in press) confirm the
relevance of the aerial surveys, either for understanding the behaviour or to try to assess the presence and
abundance of bluefin tuna in various Mediterranean areas, even if there is very scarce attention to previous
literature on this subject. These fishery- independent estimates could possibly correct some problems in the
current assessments and all the available evidence shows that the presence of bluefin tuna at sea is considerably
higher than the model estimated.
There are more issues concerning the behaviour, the ethology and the migrations of tuna which are very relevant
for a more general overview of the bluefin tuna situation.
Furthermore, the problems are much more complex that they appear, because bluefin tuna have the bad habit of
not respecting the various hypothesis suggested by scientists. As a matter of fact, bluefin tuna had several nonregular
experiences in the past (Neuparth, 1925) and they are possibly having some more that we don’t know.
The idea to visit for several years the North Sea up to the Norway (Gruvel, 1922; Heldt, 1923, 1925, 1926; Le
Gall, 1926) was not so good. It seems that bluefin tuna were attracted in these cold and shallow waters mostly by
the high availability of good food with a high fat content (herrings and other species). Massive movements are
historically reported and the very rapid disappearance of this fishery (Tangen, 2009) (Figure 9, from 1950 to
1979) was mostly the reason for a dedicated Symposium by ICCAT held in 2008 (Anon. 2009). Therefore, it
seems that a combination of environmental factors, a decrease of the prey species due to overfishing and the high
fishing pressure applied to bluefin tuna in the short period were all together responsible for this disappearance
(Fromentin, 2002b; Fonteneau, 2009, Nøttestad et al, 2009). Even in this case, several people reacted, claiming
for a disaster for the bluefin tuna and some others tried to reiterate the same in recent times.
A similar situation, but with even more unclear displacement, occurred between 1951 and 1964 (Figure 9) in the
southwest Atlantic. This period was called “the Brazilian fishery” and it provided good yields for several years.
Then the massive presence of bluefin tuna decreased in a very short time and apparently most of the specimens
moved away from that area (Takeuchi et al., 2009). There are not many good scientific analyses or data about
the reason for these movements, but there is a good possibility that this intense fishery in the southwest Atlantic
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was the major cause affecting the western bluefin tuna stock for the following decades. But even this possibility
was never seriously analysed.
Even the presence of bluefin tuna (and consequent catches) in the North Atlantic up to Iceland is not clear from a
behavioural point of view, but if we consider the disappearance of this species in the North Sea and the strong
reduction of fishing yields in the southwest Atlantic as a sign of a reduction in the distribution area, then we
should consider the presence of bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic as an extension of the distribution area. But
this is only one of the human approaches, because bluefin tuna are not aware of this thinking.
There is another issue, which is possibly linked to the same area but it is very often forgotten by most of the
scientists working on bluefin tuna research. It was pointed out in the past several times mostly by Jones (1971),
Rodiguez Roda (1980), Cort (1980), Arena & Cefali (1982) and Arena (1982c, 1988). Some specimens were
found during the fishing activity in Norway (Rodiguez Roda (1980), while others were noticed in the Canary
Islands (Cort, 1980); Rivas (in Arena, 1980) reported that many specimens with bite marks are commonly found
among the bluefin tuna catches in the Bahamas. Bluefin tunas with these marks were reported also by Heldt
(1932) in Spain and Morocco, but the marks were wrongly attributed to the Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus).
In the Mediterranean, since the 1970s, several specimens of medium and large size bluefin tunas were found
with crater wounds in the lower posterior section of the body, in the perianal part (Figure 10).
These types of marks are typically caused by the bites of a small shark, Isistius brasiliensis (Quoy and Gaimard,
1824), the smalltooth cookiecutter shark. This shark species is distributed in several areas in various oceans, but
its presence is more common in the South Atlantic; it is not present in the Mediterranean Sea. It is usually a
deep-water shark (diving down to 3500 m), but having nocturnal movements up to the surface. The bites of
Isistius brasiliensis leave natural marks able to be distinguished and identified for the entire life of the fish. The
percentage of bluefin tuna with these marks in the catches from the South Tyrrhenian Sea varied from a
minimum of 0.68% to a maximum of 2% in the 1970s and the 1980s (Arena, 1982c, 1988a, 1988b, 1990; Arena
& Cefali, 1982); almost all these specimens were large males. Actually, according to the observers’ reports, the
presence of tuna with these natural marks is still reported every year in the central Mediterranean.
These interesting and curious natural marks pose various problems in our understanding of the bluefin tuna
movements and those questions remain unsolved even after the various tagging activities with pop-up satellite
tags and archival tags carried out in the 1990s and in recent years (Cort, 1999). As a matter of fact, only one
tagged bluefin tuna went from the Mediterranean to south of Cape Verde Islands. It is very difficult to
understand in which part of the Atlantic Ocean these marks are caused, but it seems logical that these natural
marks reveal movements which are not known by the scientists and a possible different distribution (maybe
vertical?) of medium and large males in some parts on the Atlantic Ocean, before migrating to the Mediterranean
for spawning.
There is another important issue, which is often forgotten when dealing with the eastern Atlantic stock of bluefin
tuna. It is well known since the time of Plinius (1 st century B.C.), that an undefined portion of the Atlantic
bluefin tuna adult population remained in the Mediterranean Sea for an undefined number of years (more than
one year), wintering there. This point was raised many times in the 20 th century (Genovese 1965; Scordia,
1934b, 1934c, 1935a) or even more recently (Di Natale et al., 2005c, 2005d) and this part of the stock is
certainly present in the deep central Mediterranean waters (including the area of the Strait of Messina) and it
should be possibly present also in the eastern Mediterranean (Karakulak and O ray, 2009), where it is supposed
that a portion of the sub-population originally located in the Black Sea might stay. The effects of these “resident”
bluefin tunas on the VPA have never been analysed.
As it was explicitly mentioned in the external assessment of ICCAT carried out in 2008 (ICCAT, 2009), maybe
there are too many ICCAT scientists knowing very well the mathematical models while only a few scientists
seem to really known the species and their life in the wild, often with an unbalanced situation. This fact is
creating a sort of parallel vision of what is happening in the reality, relying much more on numerical data
independently from their real meaning against the evidence coming from the situation at sea, where not
everything can be immediately translated into numbers.
5. The stock assessment
SCRS carried out several stock assessments of bluefin tuna and all of them were based on the huge database kept
by the ICCAT Secretariat, which includes the data transmitted by the Statistical Correspondents of each
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Contracting Party or fishing entity. Data provided by scientists during the SCRS meetings are also included. The
stock assessment methodology is mostly based on the VPA with a lot of exploratory hypothesis or comparison
with other methodologies when necessary. The SCRS and the ICCAT Secretariat have high-level experts able to
run these sophisticated models, which are considered the best available on the scientific market. This situation,
which appears as one of the best among the various RFMOs, is not able to overcome a series of problems which
are knows since many years.
It is well known that VPA is a model widely used in many fisheries and for a broad range of species, but it is not
adequate to describe the enormous complexity of species having a huge geographic distribution and very
complex movements (even massive), either vertical and horizontal. It relays mostly on total catch by gear, size
frequencies distribution by gear, area and time strata, recruitment and standardised CPUE series by gear (other
inputs exists and others are also possible). It provides a range of predictive hypothesis, which could be huge
according to various choices, taking into account the uncertainties inputted by the scientists. This is the best
available tool at the moment and this is the reason why it is adopted by SCRS and ICCAT, but everybody knows
that it is not a magic tool and its limits in describing large pelagic fish populations are very well known by the
specialists. Anyway, this is what we have and we have to deal with it.
There is a very well-known sentence about the mathematic models: “garbage in, garbage out”. It is often recalled
during the SCRS discussion to underline the bad quality of several data sets, particularly those on bluefin tuna
and even more so after the adoption of the quota system in 1996. In the past situation, catch data were sometimes
incomplete or missing for some Contracting Parties (the statistical services were very different in each CP), but
they were “honest” in their quality. Size frequencies, biological data and CPUE were usually provided by
scientists and, even if they were often very localised, their quality was always considered sufficiently reliable.
When ICCAT decided to adopt and enforce the quota system for the bluefin tuna (was the first TAC never
adopted in the Mediterranean Sea and it is still the only one), then the “gold rush” started and this was the cause
of the incredible deterioration of the data submitted to ICCAT, as SCRS reports stated for many years.
The data that were submitted by scientists at the end of the 1990s were used by some CPs to raise issues about
compliance with the ICCAT rules, even if this is not possible in theory. This fact created an enormous problem
in the system, because scientists coming to SCRS meetings, and particularly those working under contracts with
national governments (the large majority), started to pay a lot of attention to their data, avoiding to present data
that were in contrast with the official data provided by the governments. This doesn’t mean that the scientists
manipulated their data: it simply means that some data sets were not presented anymore. This fact is very evident
when examining the size frequencies and their distribution. Small tunas became rare in the reports, because the
undersize catches were not reported by many of the CPs.
This is a very relevant point, because it raises a few important and basic problems: the use of scientific data for
compliance issues and the direct detrimental effects on the assessment model.
The first is a procedural problem, because scientific data must always be used only for scientific purposes, to
better understand the situation concerning a species and for suggesting the necessary strategies to better manage
that species according to the best scientific evidence. If those data are used against individual Contracting
Parties, it is logical that national scientists cannot take this individual responsibility on their shoulders. This is an
old discussion, going on in various fora: as a general principle, data from scientists should be used only for
scientific purposes, while data from inspectors can be used for compliance purposes. The risk in also using the
scientific data for compliance purposes is to face the situation SCRS is facing since years.
The second is a perverted effect, because if Contracting Parties are not reporting the catch of undersized fish,
then it is very difficult to understand how recruitment occurs every year, particularly when fishery-independent
research is not available. The fishery of juvenile bluefin tuna is quite common in the Mediterranean since
historical times. It is reported by ancient writers, but it was considered a great problem also in the 18 th and 19 th
centuries: Avolio (1805) underlined the need to protect the juvenile bluefin tunas and reported royal decrees
imposing the protection of juveniles and the prohibition to catch, retain and sell them from September to
December in 1795, extended to March in 1796. ICCAT had established various measures to protect juvenile
bluefin tunas, but some of them were contradictory, allowing derogations for some fisheries, due to political
negotiations carried out at the Commission level. But the real problem was not only the catch of juveniles by
large vessels in some areas: it is the huge amount of small boats and vessels catching juvenile bluefin tuna when
these fish approach the coast to get the best food chain. As was written in several reports (Di Natale et al., 1986,
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1987, 1988), small boats, mostly used for the leisure fishery, are able to catch important numbers of juveniles per
day and the total number of these boats and vessels in the Mediterranean Sea is quite huge.
Monitoring these catches is very difficult, because these fish are used for personal consumption or for the local
markets, but it is essential to understand the recruitment and follow the yearly variations. If these data are not
collected any more of if they are not reported to the SCRS for the risk of compliance problems, then the SCRS
has no tools to properly assess recruitment, in the absence of other indicators.
Figure 11 shows a true example of two data sets, collected in exactly the same area in 2008, one by scientific
observers monitoring the effective landing by all vessels and the other as landings of vessels having a bluefin
tuna quota reporting their catches in landing declarations and then in Task II statistics. This has been occurring
for many years and in this way the SCRS lost the opportunity to follow the high recruitment noticed in an
anecdotic way by many scientists since 2003 in almost all the Mediterranean areas, thanks to prolonged high
temperatures at seas.
This lack of basic data on recruitment clearly negatively affected the result of the assessment, independently
from the attempt to apply correction factors under the hypothesis of various recruitment scenarios.
Another problem affecting the size distribution in the model is caused by the rare presence of large fish. Usually,
giant tunas are not abundant because of natural factors, but their presence among the catches in the
Mediterranean fisheries was always reported in the past. In recent times, the number of large fish in the national
reports decreased and this was a further cause of concern in the SCRS bluefin tuna assessment. It was decided to
pay particular attention to this issue and it was possible to identify several factors affecting the data. It is very
clear that the different composition of the bluefin tuna schools reported in the previous chapter was one of the
causes, together with the different fishing strategy of the purse seine fleet, but was not the only one.
Giant bluefin tunas in cages were present anyway and even very large specimens were identified (a few over 600
kg, several over 400 kg and many over 200 kg). In the case of large fish, the effects of caging on the fork length,
independently from the number of months, is usually minimal, particularly if compared to the same effect on
juvenile tunas. These catches moved to cages were not properly monitored for many years and these specimens
often escaped from the statistics.
For gears other than the purse seine a different problem was detected: due to the mandatory logbooks and
landing declarations, the only possibility for some fishermen to escape from a quota overshot when landing in
the authorised harbours was to lie about the weight of the individual fish, because the number is always easy to
check. Figure 12 clearly shows the effects of these actions on the Task II data. This fact causes an important bias
in the statistics, because of the decreasing number of large fish, along with the disappearance of juveniles in the
reports and together with the higher presence of small and medium size fish. Logbook data from vessels having
quota are used by many CPs for their official catch declarations to ICCAT.
Length data used in the recent bluefin tuna assessment are affected by several other factors. One of them is the
poor correspondence between the real purse seine catches and the corresponding data input in the VPA. As a
matter of fact, after the adoption of the caging system, it became almost impossible to get a proper number of
length samples at the moment of catching the bluefin tuna, before they are moved to the fattening cages. Only a
few specimens die during the catch operations or the transport and these are not considered as representative of
the structure of the catch. To partly overcome the problem, the ICCAT adopted Rec.06-07, making mandatory a
sampling procedure at the harvesting. This sampling, even considering various factors affecting the growth
during the different fattening periods, was considered able to provide more reliable information about the size
structure of the catches, particularly for the length frequencies of medium and large specimens, where the growth
in length is minimal when they are kept in cages for a few months.
During the last (2008) assessment, it was decided not to use these data that were collected spending a huge effort
and an important amount of money by some CPs. At the same time, it was decided to use the very few data
concerning the fish that died during the purse seine catch operations (a little more than 100 specimens) and raise
them to the total catch by using the Montecarlo suite of the VPA. It is a common point of view of many
scientists that this was able to create really a “virtual population” very far from the real structure of the catches.
As a matter of fact, fish which die during the purse seine operations are usually not the larger ones and the
casuality makes these catches not representatives of the length frequencies in the haul. It is very possible that this
questionable procedure was the causes of the lost of large specimens in the assessments, while very large
specimens were included in the length frequencies collected at harvesting and were not used. The effect of this
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data substitution on the assessment is unknown, but certainly was another contribution to the increasing distance
between the outlook and the reality.
Another issue is related to the CPUE series used in tuning the VPA. One of the most reliable for the East
Atlantic stock was originally the Japanese longline series because the data are collected with a very accurate
methodology. This series showed a strong decreasing pattern and this was attributed at the beginning to a clear
sign of lower abundance of the stock. During the ICCAT/GFCM meeting held in Genoa (Italy) in 1996, it was
clearly detected that the LL CPUE data for the Japanese fleet operating in the Mediterranean were negatively
affected by the increasing number of fish stolen from the LL by various fishing vessels 5 . This problem, able to
seriously bias the analysis, was described and agreed, but the data are still used without any correction factor and
those contribute to lowering all the abundance estimates.
Total catch data, after the adoption of the quota system, faced a real disaster: it was possible for several CPs to
revise their catch statistics for the years previous to the adoption of the quota, which were calculated on the 1995
and 1996 catches. Some CPs really tried their best to get the most reliable statistics, recovering data from any
possible source (including sales notes and invoices), Some others apparently revised their statistics with few (if
any) references to specific documents. The reason for that was to try to obtain the highest possible portion of the
quota, and this was the real “gold rush”. Furthermore, the situation was complicated by the request to establish
new allocation criteria, not only considering the historical catches but also the new needs of coastal CPs, even
without any tradition in the bluefin tuna fishery. This new problem was based on the right of each CP to access a
distributed resource, which is justified in principle. The result of this exercise was a further problem in the
system: CPs with a long historical tradition but with weak statistics got quota shares that were insufficient to
cover their real fishing capacity at that time, while others got quota shares that were well above their fishing
capacity. In a very few cases, vessels from the first set of CPs moved to some CPs of the second group. The final
result was that many CPs were suspected of under-reporting their total catch, some of them were officially
identified by the ICCAT Compliance Committee by cross checking the export data with the catch data, WWF
submitted several severe and documented reports on this issue (Mielgo Bregazzi, 2006, 2008, 2009) and the
SCRS tried to reassess the total figure of catch for the East Atlantic bluefin tuna stock by using theoretical
fishing capacity estimates, which were used in the assessment as a part of the uncertainty and to develop various
management scenarios.
SCRS, in all its reports since about 15 years ago, stated very clearly that there was a progressive deterioration “of
the data” and, after the adoption of the quota system, that the data used for the assessment were “considered
unreliable”.
The final result of these and many other wrong or manipulated inputs to the VPA are now evident. The 2008
assessment (Anon. 2009), in its best scenario, reports a SSB of only 71,000 tons and a total biomass ranging
from 1 to 2 million bluefin tuna. These numbers are clearly very under-estimated in comparison to the real
world, because in the same year the total estimated catch was around 61,000 tons. It is also well known that each
single school of very small bluefin tuna (7-8 cm) can account for more than 120,000 individuals, while this
number changes according to the individual size, and there are usually at least many hundreds of these schools in
each geographic area where there is the proper food chain. The very high number of juveniles is also confirmed
by the huge catch rate reported in the past for several small boats illegally fishing for bluefin tuna. Even the
catch of large specimens every year provides important numbers. These data combined show that the current
assessment provides, under the most optimistic scenarios, total biomass and SSB which are clearly
underestimated.
6. The request to move the northern bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus (Linnaeus, 1758), under the CITES
Appendix 1
The proposal to include the northern bluefin tuna (the West Atlantic and the East Atlantic stocks) into the
Appendix 1 of the Washington Convention (better known as CITES) was promoted by the Government of
Monaco in July 2009 and subsequently endorsed by various countries, most of them not concerned with the
bluefin tuna fishery.
5
The level of subtraction of bluefin tuna from the Japanese longlines was very high. It was possible to detect about 30 tons of stolen bluefin
tuna in only one harbour in one single year.
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The proposal is mostly based on the low level of the actual bluefin tuna population, the unsustainable level of
fishing effort, the outputs of the assessment provided by SCRS with the following low recovery figure of the
population in the wild and the mismanagement of this fish resource by ICCAT and all countries concerned.
The proposal makes reference mostly to SCRS documents and WWF reports, but includes several opinions that
cannot be shared, because these appear politically addressed.
As a matter of fact, without considering the points raised in the previous chapters and many others not here
examined, it is possible for an external lecturer to agree in principle with the proposal, then it is necessary to
clarify some points and bring them under a more critical perspective, possibly more close to the reality of the
status of Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Besides some “minor” points, like the reduced spawning season reported or the small spawning areas mentioned
(which is really far from the scientific literature available), one of the key issues is the outputs of the SCRS
assessment in 2007, identifying a SSB of 72,000 tons and a total biomass between 1,000,000 to 2,000,000
individuals. These estimates were already discussed at the end of the previous chapter and they are clearly underestimated
under the most optimistic projection. Furthermore, in the proposal there is no mention of the SCRS
report in 2006, when it was clearly said that the data were unreliable and then SCRS was suggesting the ICCAT
Commission to postpone the assessment until reliable data would be made available. The big mistake by SCRS
at that time was not to resist the Commission’s request to go on with the assessment as it was planned in 2007,
without any care to this awareness sign. This is one of the most relevant issues in the entire discussion, because
an assessment carried out by using unreliable data cannot provide reliable estimates, even exploring various
scenarios and considering a wide range of uncertainties. Ignoring this general unreliability is very relevant and a
heavy responsibility.
The proposal by Monaco makes reference to a recent paper by MacKenzie et al. (2009). The authors used very
good mathematical models and their high skills but unreliable data sets and academic hypothesis, also quoting
papers (like Bearzi et al, 2006) which are based on non-scientific methodologies 6 . There is the general opinion
that the paper from MacKenzie et al. is a good mathematical exercise, based on a high knowledge of population
dynamics but without any direct knowledge of the bluefin tuna itself and the fishery, possibly having a clear
target to reach.
Bluefin tuna are considered in the Monaco proposal as “a medium productivity species”, while bluefin tuna are
usually included within species having a considerable recruitment, which is the case in the Mediterranean Sea
since 2003. The natural mortality rate is assumed by convention since many years and it is possibly underestimated,
but it was adopted by SCRS and maintained at the same value for a long period, without taking into
account the improvements for the evaluation of this basic factor, which is one of the most relevant in a
population assessment.
The marked decline of the population reported by the proposal is logically and heavily affected by the
assumptions and the unreliable data; at least the SSB trend is clearly wrong (otherwise, we should assume that
the remaining less than 10% SSB in 2007 was able to produce the high recruitment noted in 2008 and in 2009).
There is another factor affecting the overall view of the bluefin tuna spawning (and then the recruitment
capacity): the proposal from Monaco, along with a few other papers, reports data on the spawning season and on
the environmental conditions which are necessary to induce the spawning, which are scientifically wrong. As a
matter of fact, it is well known by the huge amount of scientific literature available on this issue, that spawning
can usually occur from mid-May to mid-July, with certain variability according to the local oceanographic
conditions. The temperature in the upper stratum of the sea must be usually >21°C (and not >24°C) and with a
well-established thermocline, providing the existence of a warm upper layer of the sea at depths of more than
10m. This last factor is very relevant, because it is necessary to have a certain water mass at the surface with the
right temperature to induce the biochemical stimuli and the proper temperature jump (usually a difference of
about 3°C between the upper and the lower stratum is necessary to induce the physiological stimuli) at the
thermocline to work as a sort of biological switch for the spawners. Increasing the minimum temperature and
6 The paper from Bearzi et al. 2006, pointing out the strong decreasing of bluefin tuna in the Ionian Sea, is based on an assessment by
“sightings of BFT” in a very small part of the Ionian Sea from an inflatable boat and for a couple of years, applying the same methodology
used for marine mammals and without considering the fundamental behavioural difference between a marine mammal and a fish! The same
author, in a previous work, assessed the abundance of small pelagic species in an island in Greece by counting the fish scales floating at the
surface, collecting them with a small net. This last assessment was taken as the scientific evidence to support the hypothesis of a food
shortage for Tursiops truncatus and then to request IUCN to attribute a higher status in the Red List.
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shortening the spawning seasons (as it was done in the proposal) are elements able to negatively affect the
theoretic reproduction capacity of the East Atlantic stock in the assessment.
The full vision of the status of Atlantic bluefin tuna is heavily negative, without considering several factors, able
at least to raise strong doubts about the pessimistic assessments, like, for example, this points raised by SCRS in
its 2008 Report:
“In summary, available indicators from small fish fisheries in the Bay of Biscay did not show any consistent
trend since the mid-1970s. This result is not particularly surprising because of strong inter-annual variation in
year class strength. Indicators from longliners and traps targeting large fish (spawners) in the East Atlantic and
the Mediterranean Sea displayed a recent increase after a general decline since the mid-1970s. The Group
found it difficult to derive any clear conclusion from fisheries indicators in the absence of more precise
information about the catch composition, effort and spatial distribution of the purse seine fisheries (which
represent more than 60% of the total recent reported catch). Fisheries-independent indicators and a large scale
tagging program in the Mediterranean Sea are also strongly needed to fill major gaps of scientific information.”
It is a fact that the CPUE data from the Japanese longliners are increasing in the last five years, mirroring the
relevant increase in recruitment since 2003. But both these facts are not assessed.
Another important point raised by the proposal is that the bluefin tuna are “affected by trade”. As a matter of
fact, bluefin tuna are affected by international trade since the Roman times and maybe even from the Phoenician
times. Whenever we consider that the total catch level in the 16 th century in the Mediterranean was estimated to
be close to 60,000 t (with tuna traps only) 7 , than we can easily realise that there is something wrong in the
present outlook and in the common understanding of this species. Even the market motivations are wrongly
stated, because the fishery is not only driven by the Japanese market and Mediterranean inhabitants do not only
consume fresh tuna meat. Of course, it is well known that many problems were recently caused by the
international trade, particularly that promoted by the Japanese market, and by the trade of IUU products, but
these are the result of weak controls, and not by the trade itself.
The proposal by Monaco includes large parts of descriptions about the bluefin tuna natural history, the biology
and ethology, but there is a lot of misleading information. About recruitment, the effects of environmental
factors remain obscure, particularly if nobody analyses them. At the same time, while it is well stated in the
proposal that the ecological extinction of bluefin tuna would result in an unpredictable effect on the prey
populations, it is simply not taken into account what the effect was on bluefin tuna of the heavy fisheries on its
prey species that is happening since decades. This approach is scientifically not the most adequate. It is again a
clear demonstration that the field knowledge is very poor and the scientific literature considered is limited to the
most recent papers, independently from well established scientific knowledge.
A lot of attention is given to the fact that the bulk of the fishery is targeting spawners and this fact heavily
affected the SSB in the last 10 years. The problem is again the poor knowledge of the history of this fishery,
because most of the historical catches over the centuries (at least in weight!) have been always spawners,
apparently without creating many problems for the bluefin tuna population. It is always a problem of balancing
the catch with the availability of the resource and among age classes. When the proposal reports that ICCAT set
quota levels well over those indicated by the assessment, it doesn’t make any reference to the unreliable data
used for it. Besides other considerations, this was taken into account by the Commission in assigning the quota
under a management plan.
If we consider the SCRS assessment as true, having between 25 to 35% overfishing of the MSY, then it should
be necessary to explain why, after more than 10 years of this situation, bluefin tuna are still alive and the purse
seine fleets are able to catch almost the full quota each year in less than 10 days! It is clear, again, that the
outlook is based on unreliable data and even less reliable assessments, as stated many times by SCRS. This
should be taken into account, together with the fact that bluefin tuna (even if it is overfished at an unknown
level) are still largely present in all the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic, while the enforcement of the
ICCAT regulation is seriously becoming effective and very strict measures were adopted by the EC in 2009 8 .
7 This estimated level, obtained by extrapolating the known catch from several traps to the total number of the traps known in the
Mediterranean Sea, is very close to the maximum estimated catch obtained by SCRS for the East Atlantic bluefin tuna stock in recent times.
8 The fishing season in 2009 was conducted with a 100% observer coverage of the EU purse seine fleet and 20% observer coverage of the
longline fleet, while many inspections have been conducted at sea by national and international patrol vessels. The tuna cages in EU
countries had 100% observer coverage. Many tuna vessels were blocked at the harbours for compliance issues and the effective EU fleet was
largely reduced. The 2009 purse seine fishing season was limited by bad weather situations, but vessels were able to catch the individual
quota in a very short time, due to the availability of the resource at sea.
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The eventual suspension of bluefin tuna fishing mentioned by the ICCAT external advisory panel in 2008
(ICCAT, 2009) does not necessarily include the listing of the stocks in CITES Appendix 1, but strict
management measures. As a matter of fact, the CITES option is not mentioned at all in the report. Furthermore,
it doesn’t take into account any social, cultural and economic aspects of the fisheries. For example, the closure of
the bluefin tuna fishery, even for only one year, will result in losing the tuna trap and the harpoon fisheries (two
historical activities having a very limited impact on the bluefin tuna stock) forever, because they are not able to
stay in stand-by even for one year only. The harpoon fishery, targeting mostly swordfish, has bluefin tuna 9 as an
important component of its little economy and without this species it will be not profitable anymore. The tuna
trap fishery has a huge labour component and stopping the activity even for only one year will cause an
immediate loss of the staff and great economic damage for each factory. Both of these fisheries are “survivors”
from ancient times and a part of the Mediterranean culture. Like for the traditional Inuit activities in whale
hunting, at least historical fisheries should be excluded from all these discussions and kept alive and active
independently of any management decision.
It is useless to examine here in detail all the other points of the proposal, because many parts are more than
questionable. Discussions should go on for long times and they usually occur every year in the SCRS.
7. Conclusions
Poor knowledge of the natural history of this species by someone is rapidly becoming science in the public
domain, forgetting about centuries of scientific papers. At the same time, it is clear that the scientific information
on this species and its fishery must be seriously improved, including the necessary fishery-independent data.
The CITES is a very important Convention, highly reputed all over the world, that has been efficient and
effective in protecting many species from extinction in the wild. All the species listed in Appendix 1 have or had
serious conservation problems in terms of threat of extinction and the CITES is designed exactly for this. The
CITES offices are used to deal with those problems and the level of controls, fines and other legal provisions is
very high in most of the signatory countries.
This is the reason why the use of CITES for widely distributed species not having a real conservation problem in
terms of zoological extinction is really inappropriate and pertains to a political issue more than a conservation
problem. And no one has ever demonstrated or even reported that Atlantic bluefin tuna are threatened by
extinction. The discussion is mostly driven about a possible “stock collapse” according to the outlook of the
stock assessment, contradicted by the recent observations included in the 2008 and 2009 SCRS reports.
The 2009 bluefin fishing season had, for the very first time, a serious enforcement of the ICCAT regulation at
least among all the EC Countries (following a strong political will by the European Commission), with full
observers coverage for the EC purse seiners and the established percentage of coverage on other activities,
immediately resulting in full compliance for these fleets in terms of respecting the rules and the quota. The direct
involvement of the Community Fishery Control Agency (established in 2005) and the strict monitoring of the
VMS data made a strong contribution to demonstrate that, when there is a common political will, it is possible to
control a certain fishing activity and strictly enforce the rules.
Since some years ago, there has been clear general mismanagement problem and the bluefin tuna are overfished,
particularly in the last decade when fleets increased too much, but this is still a serious fishery management
problem and we are all lucky that it is not a conservation issue, because, again, bluefin tuna are not threatened by
extinction.
It is commonly accepted that the modelling of fisheries, and particularly for large migratory species, is not
reliable in terms of predicting the future: fishery statistics are certainly extremely useful to understand the
present by analysing the past, but data should be as reliable as possible. When a scientific committee like the
ICCAT SCRS states very clearly that the bluefin tuna data are unreliable, it is absolutely impossible to get
reliable forecast for the stocks.
The unreliable and unrealistic outlook of the stock, caused by the unreliable data, and the continuous shifting of
the forecast (and the overfishing figure) after each assessment are all clear indications that the situation is serious
but it is not extremely dramatic. The unreliability of the data and the outputs of the assessment make difficult to
9 Total bluefin tuna catches might be on the order of not more than 2 tons per year.
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properly analyse if the current situation of this species fits the CITES criteria. When we take into account the
situation at sea and many other issues discussed in this paper, there is a good evidence of this statement.
Listing the Atlantic bluefin tuna in CITES Appendix 1 would result in practice in a complete ban of the fishery
in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at least for the first two years and in very serious and conflicting
management issues in the following years, because the domestic CITES authorities are different from the
domestic fishery authorities, and national CITES Scientific Commissions usually do not include any fishery
scientist in several countries.
CITES has an incredible amount of bureaucracy, possibly necessary to ensure a full control of the system for
very threatened species, but impossible to be followed by any fishermen and difficult to be followed also by any
fishery authority. The time required by the CITES bureaucracy does not fit any fishery need, because this
Convention was established for other purposes.
Contrary to the statements by some NGOs 10 , listing a species in CITES under Appendix 1 implies that all the
removals are limited only to scientific needs and according to precise and detailed scientific plans. Trade and
harvesting from nature is fully prohibited, with very few exceptions 11 . Listing Atlantic bluefin tuna under CITES
Appendix 1 would possibly imply the immediate extinction of the most historical traditional fishing activities in
the EU and in some North African countries, like the tuna traps and the harpoon fishery, with a serious cultural
and socio-economical problem. Both these activities have no responsibility in the current problems of Atlantic
bluefin tuna and they must be protected anyway.
RFMOs and CITES have clearly different management roles and different responsibilities (Di Natale, 2003,
2004a; Kell et al., 2000).
The Atlantic bluefin tuna has a serious management problem and even more serious data and assessment
problems and these need to be faced by the responsible management body, the ICCAT, with the fundamental
support of all Contracting Parties and under the external overview of important NGOs. This is a clear
responsibility issue, but again it is still not a conservation problem. The ICCAT bluefin tuna recovery plan must
be immediately and strictly enforced, with no derogations or exemptions.
If the management of Atlantic bluefin tuna will pass from the ICCAT, one of the most reputed RFMOs, to the
CITES, than the credibility of ICCAT will be lost forever and this will cause unpredictable problems for many
species and for the RFMOs system in general.
If the Atlantic bluefin tuna is listed in CITES Appendix 1 having many millions of individuals dispersed in the
oceans, then the inclusion of many other halieutic species 12 will necessarily follow the same track in a short time,
creating a serious problem in terms of management roles and responsibility.
10
All the recent press releases by WWF (namely the WWF Bluefin Tuna Bulletin) report that listing the bluefin tuna in CITES under the
Appendix 1 will only exclude international trade, still permitting the national fisheries and domestic consumption. Maybe the author of these
relaxing texts forget that bluefin tuna, being a marine species, are usually caught at sea; it means that fishing this species, even for domestic
(personal???) consumption, will imply the introduction of these catches in the national territory of each CP. These unrealistic statements are
possibly deliberately made to slow down the opposition due to socio-economical issues. Following herewith is the original text provided by
Art. III (5) of the CITES (as signed in Washington on 3 March 1973 and as amended in Bonn on 22 June 1979):
Art. III. Point 5: The introduction from the sea of any specimen of a species included in Appendix I shall require the prior grant of a
certificate from a Management Authority of the State of introduction. A certificate shall only be granted when the following
conditions have been met:
(a) a Scientific Authority of the State of introduction advises that the introduction will not be detrimental to the survival of the
species involved;
(b) a Management Authority of the State of introduction is satisfied that the proposed recipient of a living specimen is suitably
equipped to house and care for it; and
(c) a Management Authority of the State of introduction is satisfied that the specimen is not to be used for primarily commercial
purposes.
11 One of the few exceptions is the whale hunting permitted to the Inuit population for subsistence.
12 Many stocks of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods have more problems than the bluefin tuna one.
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1036

Table 1. Overview of the available knowledge on the tuna traps noticed in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent
areas in 1899 and 1919.
Pavesi, 1899 Parona, 1919 1919/1899
Country Active Inactive Total Active Inactive Total Variation
Turkey 26 0 26 26 0 26 0
E. Adriatic 1 0 1 31 0 31 +3100%
Italy 41 99 140 51 81 131 -6.4%
France 5 21 26 10 21 31 +19.2%
Spain (Mediterranean coast) 6 24 30 9 13 22 -26.7%
Morocco 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Algeria 0 2 2 1 0 1 -50%
Tunisia 1 2 3 1 1 2 -33.3%
Libya 0 0 0 2 0 2 200
Malta 2 1 3 2 1 3 0
Total Mediterranean 81 150 231 133 116 249 7.8%
Spain (Atlantic coast) 9 2 11 8 13 21 90.9%
Portugal 14 10 24 15 6 21 -12.5%
Total tuna traps 104 162 266 156 135 291 9.4%
1/ It was decided to use “East Adriatic” to include all the tuna traps noticed in various countries of that coast, because the
mane and boundaries were modified many times over the last century.
2/ It seems that Morocco had some active tuna traps at that time, but this information was not included in the reviews
from Pavesi and Parona and it is possibly included in some Portuguese archives.
Figure 1. The engravings of tuna and dolphins along the walls of the Genovese’s Cave in the Isle of Levanzo
(Egadi Isle, western Sicily, Italy), 9,200 B.C.
1037

Figures 2 and 3. Tuna market depicted on a Sicilota pottery (IV B.C.)
Figure 4a (left) and 4b (right). Detailed maps showing the location of the various tuna traps in the different
countries of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas (Parona, 1919).
1038

Figure 5. The typical migration of bluefin tuna in the Black Sea, the Bosphorus and the eastern Mediterranean
(Sarà, 1963).
Figure 6. The fluctuation of fish abundance in the Black Sea according to the data from the Bulgarian fishery.
The catch curve concerning bluefin tuna is marked as 1 (from: Zaitsev & Mamaiev, 1997).
1039

Figure 7. The most typical composition of bluefin tuna schools during the spawning season in the 1980s. A:
cone-shaped formation; B: scale formation; C: caravan formation, having most of the individual spawning at the
surface. p: pilot specimens. (Arena, 1982).
Figure 8. Main migratory courses of the bluefin tuna inside the western and central Mediterranean Sea during
the spawning season, including pre- and post spawning movements known till the ‘80s. (Sarà, 1983).
1040

1950-1959 1960-1969
1970-1979 1980-1989
1990-1999 2000-2007
Figure 9. Geographic distribution of bluefin tuna catches per 5°x5° and per main gears (ICCAT, 2008).
1041

Figure 10. Descriptive figure of a large bluefin tuna having marks of Isistius brasiliensis (Arena, 1988).
FREQUENCY %
40,00
30,00
20,00
10,00
0,00
ALL GEARS 2008 no. = 7879
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
FREQUENCY %
Figure 11. An example of bluefin tuna weight frequency data collected by scientific observers in one area in the
Central Mediterranean Sea in 2008 (left) and the data as they are reported only by vessels having quota in their
landing declarations and in the official statistics for ICCAT Task II (right).
1042
25,00
20,00
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
ALL GEARS 2008 no. = 2997
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)

FREQUENCY %
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
LL BFT no. = 1682
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)
FREQUENCY %
Figure 12. An example of bluefin tuna weight frequency data from longliners collected by scientific observers
in two harbours in the Central Mediterranean Sea in 2008 (left) and the data from the same two harbours as they
are reported by vessel having bluefin tuna quota in their landing declarations and in the official statistics for
ICCAT Task II (right).
1043
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
LL BFT no.= 1489
WEIGHT CLASSES (kg)