Future of tuna fishery could be bleak says association executive director

By Jim Brown

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The fate of the Island’s bluefin tuna fishery could be hanging on a tenterhook.

Ed Frenette, executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association, says there’s growing speculation over the possibility that the entire Atlantic fishery – perhaps even the global fishery – could be shut down at a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, slated for late November in Morocco.

Frenette said the pressure is mounting from wildlife conservation groups in the wake of an alarming decline in catches around the world, including the eastern seaboard of the U.S., where empty hooks and empty hearts have become increasingly commonplace.

American fishermen may even be among those calling for the fishery’s closure, said Frenette. “They really don’t have much of an industry.”

Island fishermen and those of neighbouring provinces have enjoyed robust landings, but that isn’t the case in much of the rest of the world.

And Frenette noted the 150 tonnes allocated to Island fishermen this year, “is just a drop in the bucket,” compared to global quotas.

Frenette says there’s a chance the only fishery remaining in Atlantic Canada for bluefin will be a sports fishery, similar to the marlin fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

“That’s the alternative – a hook and release sports fishery. It will be a tourist-centred business.”

At this point, it’s all just speculation, but it is unsettling nonetheless, he said.

(Jim Brown is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Journal Pioneer, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester