Outcome of the ICCAT meeting held in Marrakesh

The meeting saw a considerable increase in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, following the advice of the scientific committee (SCRS).

The new approved TAC for 2018 is of 28,200 t.

While a larger pie to share should have led to greater possibilities of consensus, the demands by those who already had a quota for a larger slice made negotiations tougher than ever, but in the end tentative agreement was reached on the quota share for 2018, pending further negotiations in March 2018 for the share out in future years.

While 28,200-32,240-36,000 t are the TACs for the period 2018-2020 for the BFT, the details of the new management plan could not be agreed, so most of the current provisions were left in place for a further year.