Italy is greatly overshooting fishing quotas for bluefin tuna, flouting international agreements and further threatening the endangered species, the World Wildlife Fund said today.
A report commissioned by WWF says Italian fishermen overran their quota in 2008 and 2007, are using a banned method to track tuna and are underreporting the size of their fleets.
Yesterday, the Agriculture Ministry declined to comment before the report's release, but in the past Italy has maintained it respects the rules designed to protect the overfished species.
Bluefin tuna is under particular strain in the Mediterranean, where it is hunted for its fatty meat, which fetches top prices on the Japanese market as an ingredient for sushi and sashimi.
According to the report, during the 2008 fishing season Italian fleets caught at least 4,887 tons of bluefin tuna, more than 635 tonnes above the country's assigned quota.
In 2007 Italy overran the quota by more than 1,600 tons, WWF said.
Fishing countries agree to quotas and other measures to protect tuna stocks through an intergovernmental organisation called the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
WWF said that although Italy reports a tuna fishing fleet of 185 vessels, surveyors identified 283 ships positively or probably involved in catching and ranching the fish.
Flotillas led by Italian boats were also assisted by spotter aircraft, a banned method that makes it easier to find tuna shoals, the group said.
The report titled "Lifting the lid on Italy's bluefin tuna fishery" was compiled by analysing trade documents, through direct monitoring of Italian fleets and ports used by the industry as well as aerial surveys of fish farms in Italy and other Mediterranean countries.
"The Italian government now has all the elements to combat this widespread system of illegal fishing," said Michele Candotti, CEO of WWF Italy.
Candotti said in a statement that such activity "is not just a threat to this magnificent species - but also jeopardises the future of those trying to fish this resource in a sustainable and legal way."
The government has said this year's quota was not reached, maintaining that Italy had fished 30 per cent less tuna than allowed.
In fact, Rome has been rowing with the European Union since June, when Brussels shut down the fishing season two weeks early because by its own count the year's quotas had been met.
WWF said it would present its report to the Italian government and the EU. The group urged an investigation and is also calling for a moratorium on bluefin tuna fishing.
