Morocco has increased its quota of North Atlantic swordfish and bigeye tuna and maintains its quota of bluefin tuna, as part of the work of the 24th extraordinary meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Tunas of the Atlantic (ICCAT), held in Limassol, Cyprus.
During this session, organized from November 11 to 18, the Moroccan delegation worked to preserve the interests and national achievements of all segments and species combined, indicates a press release from the State Secretariat responsible for maritime fishing. For the North Atlantic swordfish stock, the Commission adopted the new management strategy for this species which allowed an upward revision of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), specifies the same source.
Consequently, Morocco was able to benefit from an increase in its current quota, from 850 tonnes to 1,186 tonnes, in addition to an additional quota of 175 tonnes transferred from Japan at the rate of 150 tonnes and from Trinidad and Tobago at a rate of 25 tonnes for the period 2025-2027. In addition, the Commission endorsed a multi-year plan for the conservation and management of tropical tunas as well as other management measures. Morocco has thus won a very large quota for bigeye tuna (1,600 tonnes), it is added, noting that this plan provides for maintaining the annual TAC for yellowfin tuna at its current level of 110,000 tonnes.
Regarding the bluefin tuna fishery, the Kingdom has maintained its current quota, i.e. 3,700 tonnes for the year 2025. Furthermore, continues the Secretariat of State, several conservation and management measures relating to the ecosystem were adopted in particular with regard to the conservation of sharks which benefited from particular attention by the Commission.
Furthermore, the deliberations of the Implementation Committee have, once again, demonstrated that Morocco has worked to implement all the conservation and management measures adopted by ICCAT. Indeed, the Kingdom is one of 14 countries out of 57 countries that have shown full compliance. Moreover, in her speech delivered by videoconference at the opening of the extraordinary meeting, the Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, in charge of Fisheries maritime, Zakia Driouich, highlighted the efforts made by Morocco over the last two decades in terms of protecting fishery resources and vulnerable species.
Ms. Driouich, who serves as the first vice-president of ICCAT, also highlighted Morocco’s strong contribution to achieving the objectives set out in the ICCAT convention.
With MAP
