The 29th session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), held in La Réunion from 13 to 17 April 2025, concluded with the adoption of a full management framework for tropical tunas. This is a key step which will allow now to focus on other tuna species and control measures, in order to ensure a minimum level playing field between the different fleet within the Indian Ocean. Europêche calls on all IOTC parties and stakeholders to implement and enforce the adopted measures as soon as possible, as well as to begin addressing management needs for other tuna and associated species.

As the 29th session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) opens in La Réunion from 13 April 2025, the Europêche Tuna Group (ETG) calls on Contracting Parties to adopt concrete measures to ensure effective and sustainable management of tropical tuna stocks.

The EU fishing industry laments and criticizes this week’s ill-informed decision by several fish consumption guides in the EU, run by environmental NGO’s such as GoodFish and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to advise against buying and consuming Northeast Atlantic mackerel . As no other, we understand and share the major concerns about mackerel’s declining biomass, but by ‘red-listing’ now, fish guides deviate from current scientific advice which puts the stock above the precautionary management trigger point. If buyers and retailers follow the advice of the NGO’s, this will still not improve the chances of successful Coastal States negotiations. What it will do is deal a major blow to the last fleet that is showing restraint and responsibility in this fishery: the EU fleet.