The General Secretariat of Fisheries has held the findings of the final report, due to be published, in which the Committee confirms the recovery trend of the stock of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
However, according to the Ministry, the Committee has not provided an accurate assessment of the extent and pace of such recovery, although all scenarios point to biomass levels above normal highs.
By putting a precautionary approach in place, the Scientific Committee has dismissed specific recommendations on the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for 2014, to be determined in the ICCAT annual meeting in Cape Town in November 2014.
However, the Committee recognises that the recovery of the stock in terms of biomass within the Maximum Sustainable Yield could be achieved with high probability by 2022, thus maintaining the current TAC (13,500 tonnes) which would increase to 28,000 tonnes.
The General Secretariat of Fisheries will assert these arguments in various forums for a significant increase in the TAC to reward the sacrifices performed by Spanish fleets in the Recovery Plan implementation started in 2008.
