The European Union has held a dominant position among Indian Ocean tuna fleets since the 1980s, despite the ocean’s distance from Europe. At times, vessels flying Spanish or French flags accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the catch of the region’s three key tropical tuna species. As more coastal states began to exert their right to exploit this natural resource on their doorstep in the 1990s, the percentage of catch caught by EU-flagged vessels began to drop.
However, careful analysis of the industrial purse seine fleets operating in the region shows that, rather than decreasing with time, the EU has expanded its catch significantly over the last 30 years. It has achieved this by reflagging vessels to several Indian Ocean coastal states.
Read more in AP News here.
