CHARTER fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna could take place in Jersey waters before the end of 2025 as moves to make the Island part of an international conservation convention reach the next stage.
Environment Minister Steve Luce has provided an update on the proposed extension of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
The convention, which has covered the management of bluefin tuna and other closely related species since 1966, was extended to cover the UK in the aftermath of Brexit.
Although unable to be part of the convention in their own right due to being Crown Dependencies rather than independent states, Jersey and Guernsey have both initiated moves to be included as part of an extension to the UK’s involvement.
In an official report to the States Assembly, Deputy Luce notes: “The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has authorised charter fishing to take place in Jersey territorial waters in 2025 once the extension is complete.”
He added that this “would benefit the Island’s fishing communities and allow diversification to the fishing industry”. Deputy Luce said the next step would involve the signing of a ministerial decision by early June, directing officers to formally convey the extension request to the UK.
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 Jersey waters would end the current situation where UK companies can apply for licences for charter fishing, but their counterparts in Jersey are unable to do so.
Members of the Island’s fishing community have been supportive of the proposed extension, 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. In November 2023 a massive 150kg bluefin tuna was caught in Cornish waters and served at Rick Stein’s restaurant in Padstow, prompting questions from the Channel Islands about why Jersey and Guernsey were unable to carry out the same type of charter fishing.
