On Sunday, January 20, the tuna fishing season with purse seiners will begin in the Pacific Ocean, after the conclusion of the seasonal closure period, informed the National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries (CONAPESCA).
The decentralized body of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) stressed that the tuna fishery (tunas and similar species) is the second most important fishery in Mexico, both for fishing production and for its value, which has been recognized by FAO.
Mexico remains the leading country in sustainable and responsible tuna fishing.
The closure period had been notified through an agreement published last July in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), which established a temporary closure for commercial fishing for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) in waters under federal jurisdiction of Mexico. The ban affects Mexican-flagged purse-seiners that capture such species on the high seas and foreign jurisdictional waters that are in the regulation area of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Last year, Mexican-flagged tuna vessels unloaded 123,616 tonnes of tuna caught in the eastern Pacific.
In addition to the temporary ban, the tuna fishery with purse seine nets in the Pacific Ocean is regulated by the "Official Mexican Standard NOM-001-SAG / PESC-2013, responsible tuna fishing. Specifications for purse seine fishing operations", published in the DOF on January 16, 2014.
The objective of this regulation is to establish the terms and conditions for tuna fishing with Mexican-flagged purse seiners, in order to induce the sustainable use of these resources and minimize in fishing operations the mortality of dolphins associated with schools.
According to preliminary estimates of the IATTC, between January and December 2, 2018, Mexican-flagged tuna vessels unloaded 123,616 tonnes of tuna caught in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), equivalent to 21.8 percent of the total catch in this region.
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