Dr. Cecil Beamish:

Bluefin tuna is an iconic species and is a very valuable and large tuna fish. The stock has been under significant stress globally because bluefin tuna have been overfished. Bluefin tuna is managed by an international body called the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.

Japan, America, the EU, other countries are party to that body, which operates under a UN mandate. That decides on the global regulations applying to bluefin tuna and other tunas. The EU gets a quota under that, which, under EU law, has been divided out for many years on the same basis as that on which other stocks are divided, known as "relative stability". Under this system, the overall quota available to the EU is distributed on the basis of track record. Ireland has no track record on bluefin tuna fishing and, therefore, we are not allowed to have a directed bluefin tuna fishery. A small quota is set aside at EU level for countries that do not have a directed bluefin tuna quota, which is available to all member states without such a quota for by-catches. However, it is not directed. It applies where one is caught accidentally when a boat is fishing for something else and it is very small. Therefore, we cannot license and permit a directed bluefin tuna fishery. We do not have a legal basis on which to permit such a fishery. That is the overall situation regarding bluefin tuna.