By Jeremy Smith BRUSSELS, April 15 (Reuters) - Aircraft and patrol boats will be deployed to prevent over-trawling by European Union fleets when the fishing season for the endangered bluefin tuna opens on Thursday. Prized by sushi lovers but chronically overfished for years, bluefin tuna commands sky-high prices in Asia, particularly in Japan where a single fish can fetch up to $100,000. Conservation group WWF said on Tuesday overfishing would wipe out the breeding population of Atlantic bluefin tuna within three years and it was "inexcusable" to allow fishing when stocks were collapsing. Europe's two-month season opens at midnight for the six EU states fishing in Mediterranean and east Atlantic waters: Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. Last year, the European Commission banned bluefin tuna trawling after countries quickly filled their allotted quotas. The EU executive also accused France and Italy, the two nations most involved, of quota-busting and under-reporting catches. This year, the Commission says it is determined to ensure the EU's overall catch quota for 2009, agreed in international negotiations, is not exceeded. France and Italy have agreed to reduce fleet numbers, it says. "Stocks are considered to be in a critical situation," one Commission official said. "The fishing season will be closed on June 15, it will have reduced quotas and increased inspections. "We have to limit the scope for those operators who want to avoid the rules." This year, the EU will increase surveillance using aircraft, high seas and coastal patrol vessels as well as port inspection teams to check bluefin tuna landings, the official said. Industrial vessels that use a "purse seine" net, which floats the top of a long wall of netting on the surface while its bottom is weighted under the water, are the main problem. France and Italy have pledged to reduce numbers of bluefin purse seine trawlers by more than 20 percent and nearly 30 percent respectively this fishing season, the Commission says. Some 85 percent of the fish are caught in June, and commission experts say the EU's fishing capacity is so large and bluefin trawling activity so concentrated in one month that the EU quota can be exhausted in just two days of fishing. "Economic concerns suggest that there will be problems," the official said. "But we will be able to avoid overfishing if everyone respects the rules. The forecasts for this year are much more optimistic than for 2007/08." Bluefin tuna are known for their huge size, power and speed, with maximum weights recorded in excess of 600 kg. (Editing by Robert Woodward)
An African immigrant walks out of a partially collapsed tent after gale force winds destroyed several tents at the Hal Far Tent Village Open Centre for Refugees and Asylum Seekers at ...
