The Indian Ocean needs better intelligence gathering and tougher law enforcement to fight the threat of illegal tuna fishing by small mobile fleets, an industry expert said on Tuesday. Tuna theft in the ocean could grow rapidly if moves to stop illegal fishermen operating elsewhere push them into its seas, Alejandro Anganuzzi, head of the intergovernmental Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), told Reuters.

"If that happens, then we will have a very serious problem on our hands," he said by telephone from the Seychelles. Experts say the effective management of tuna stocks needs good data, but hundreds of boats -- some flying flags of convenience from landlocked countries such as Bolivia or Mongolia -- are very hard to monitor. "They can switch ports in the space of a month and we don't always get reports of where they are or what they are doing," Anganuzzi said. "They are really difficult to follow."

Some 1.2 million tonnes of tuna were caught in 2003 in the Indian Ocean, which now accounts for nearly a quarter of the total global catch, the 24-member IOTC says. The European Union -- which bought 23 percent of the region's reported tuna catch in 2003 -- said last month it would spend 7 million euros ($9 million) over the next three years combating illegal fishing in the southwestern Indian Ocean.
(Planet Ark, 07/02/2007)