The European Union at Symposium on Tuna Tagging in the Indian Ocean

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, October 30, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The European Union is participating as a major benefactor in the Indian Ocean

Tuna Tagging Symposium taking place in Grand Baie Conference center in

Mauritius from 30 October to 2 November 2012.

This symposium will focus on the evaluation of the Indian Ocean Tuna Tagging

Programme (IOTTP), the EU funded large scale project. The aim of this project was to

know more about the status and population dynamics of the main stocks of tropical

tunas in the Indian Ocean. With this goal in mind, between 2002 and 2009 more than

200,000 tuna were tagged and released in various areas of the Indian Ocean.

Today more than 31,500 tags have already been recovered in this project. This has

given new insights into the spatial and migratory movements along with population

dynamics and the biology of tropical tuna species such as Yellowfin, Bigeye and

Skipjack. The latest results of this research which will be presented at the symposium

will hopefully allow a debate on the relationship between science and management

which should in turn lead to improvements in long-term sustainability, a fundamental

objective in the EU's reform of its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The reformed CFP

also advocates closer working partnerships with regional fisheries management

organisations (RFMOs), in this instance the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). As

the world's leading market for fisheries and aquaculture products, the EU looks

forward to the findings of the symposium, which will be an important indicator on the

status of Indian Ocean tropical tuna stocks.