A man has been arrested in Marbella, Spain, on Monday 11 May 2020, after being found to be in possession of two Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus, without documentation. The man was leaving the city's port in a van, when he was stopped by officers from the Guardia Civil, acting on information provided by the Spanish Fisheries Inspection Department. Bluefin Tuna are protected in Spain and other EU countries, and cannot be caught without a valid permit. The man arrested was able to produce neither a valid permit nor evidence of having obtained the Fish from a permit holder. The Tuna were donated to a local charity.
Two Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus, with a combined weight of 199 kg, confiscated from a suspected poacher in Marbella, in the Málaga Province, of Andalusia, Spain. Guardia Civil.
The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is considered to be Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, due to extensive overfishing, with the population estimated to have declined by 45% between 1970 and 2009. Conservation efforts for the species are co-ordinated by the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tuna, with EU countries imposing strict controls on both the number of Fish that can be taken, and the methods by which they can be caught. An attempt in 2011 by the American Government to have a total ban on the harversting of the species imposed internationally by the United Nations, under the terms of the the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), was rejected by 68 votes to 20, with most opposition to the measure led by Japan, and with most European countries abstaining. However, the catching of the species is not completely banned in the US, with the National Marine Fisheries Service listing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna as a Species of Concern rather than an Endangered Species, due to a lack of information on the total population.
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