The meeting is being held at Vale do Lobo
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is analysing in Portugal, until November 21, the fishing of species from this group, which includes bluefin, southern, yellowfin and bigeye tuna.
The 52 members of ICCAT – including the European Union, the United States, Brazil, Morocco and Japan – are participating in the organisation’s first face-to-face meeting since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, which is taking place in Vale do Lobo.
The European Commission will negotiate on behalf of the 27 EU countries.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Maria do Céu Antunes and the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Teresa Coelho, were due to attend the meeting on Monday morning.
“This meeting will be attended by the 52 contracting parties and the five entities with ‘cooperating’ status (Bolivia, Taipei, Suriname, Costa Rica and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana) to reach the best consensus in the adoption of regulatory measures and thus achieve adequate results for sustainable management, at an environmental, economic and social level, of the resources regulated by this Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, particularly the highly migratory species,” said a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
In October, Portugal defended measures to increase catches of bigeye tuna, bluefin tuna and North Atlantic swordfish during the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the European Union held in Luxembourg.
The ICCAT meeting will coincide with another fisheries-related meeting, as a session of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is being held in Panama.
Source: LUSA
