Charter fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna is set to take place in Jersey waters for a three-month period later this year, the island’s Environment Minister has stated.
Guernsey on the other hand is still working with the UK government with a view to extending the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunes to our waters.
If that happens, a fishery for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna could open here – but it’s still a way off shore.
A spokesperson from Sea Fisheries confirmed the talks are ongoing and the preparatory work will continue once the new Economic Development Committee members are elected after the new States are sworn in next week.
“Guernsey officers are still working with the UK government on the extension of ICCAT to the Bailiwick of Guernsey,” the spokesperson said.
“This has involved a compliance review of the legal framework in place locally, and whether further changes might be required before extension.”
The work to establish a bluefin tuna fishery in the island had started under the current ED Committee, led by Deputy Neil Inder. That committee will be disbanded on 30 June when the current term of office ends.
Even though Deputy Inder was re-elected to the States for a third term last week, he is unlikely to be back as ED President.
As far back as last September he said work to establish a bluefin tuna fishery locally will be for the “next president of Economic Development” to oversee.
“These things take a while for them to accept our application,” Deputy Inder told the States, when sharing an update on the ICCAT.
“If accepted, it is likely Guernsey would then get the quota allocation from within the UK’s, which this year was around 63 tonnes.
“It won’t be this year, obviously, the next president of Economic Development may be having [this discussion] these are very slow processes.”
Work in Jersey has moved apace though with Deputy Steve Luce telling the States Assembly this week that moves to include the island within the international conservation convention were well advanced and should enable approved businesses to offer “catch and release” charter trips between August and October.
Up to five businesses would be given permits for 2025, with two having already expressed interest, the Environment minister told the States Assembly in response to a question from another Deputy.
Deputy Luce said this would follow once Jersey had finalised negotiations with the UK Ministry of Justice about the extension of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
And he added that in 2026 he was looking at a wider scheme that would allow some Jersey fishing businesses to land small quantities of Atlantic bluefin tuna that could be sold to restaurants and retail outlets.
Once nearly extinct, Atlantic bluefin tuna have become increasingly abundant in the territorial waters of the Channel Islands, France and the UK in recent years.
Extending the convention to cover Channel Island waters would end the current situation where UK companies can apply for licences for charter fishing, but their counterparts in the islands are unable to do so.
Members of the islands’ fishing community have been supportive of the proposed extension in Jersey, saying that it could benefit several parts of the economy, including hospitality businesses as well as those directly involved in fishing.
Atlantic bluefin tuna are fast-swimming and wide-ranging fish that have always occasionally ventured into UK waters, but became an extremely rare sight through the latter half of the 20th century as the highly valuable species was fished close to extinction.
Thanks to improved international management, stocks recovered, with the tuna reappearing in UK coastal waters in 2014 and being regularly sighted in increasing numbers around the coasts of Cornwall, and further along the south coast into Devon and Dorset waters.