Int'l body raises S. Korea's Atlantic tuna quota

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- An international fishery agency has sharply raised its
2010 quota for South Korea's bigeye tuna catch in the Atlantic Ocean despite an
overall cut in quotas for most other countries, the government said Wednesday.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) has
granted South Korea an annual total allowable catch (TAC) of 2,900 tons for next
year, up 38 percent from this year, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries said.
The quota increase was possible because South Korea caught only 10,000 tons worth
of Atlantic bigeye in the mid-1980s, the ministry said.
The ICCAT, which governs fishing in the ocean, sets quotas based on the size of
past fishing operations. The organization consists of 48 member states and
observers.
At its annual meeting in Brazil, the commission decided to cut the TAC for the
fish to 85,000 tons in the new year from 90,000 tons in 2009 in order to preserve
rapidly shrinking tuna stock.
The total bluefin quota for all ICCAT members have also been cut by 40 percent
annually to 13,500 tons for 2010 from 22,000 tons in 2009.
The ministry added that while the country's quota for bigeye has increased, its
TAC for bluefin tuna has been lowered to 81 tons in 2010 from 132 tons this year.

South Korea catches most of its tuna in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean but
maintains a small fishing fleet in the Atlantic. Most of the tuna caught are
shipped to Japan, the largest consumer of the fish in the world.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)