The Regional Government welcomed the approval, which was intended by the Region, of the extension of the exception scheme on the fishing of skipjack tuna in the Atlantic. The decision was taken during a voting that took place in Cape Town, South Africa, on the last day of the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

This exception scheme allows Azorean shipowners to catch this tuna species without an established quota limit. Skipjack tuna is widely used by the regional canning industry.

"With this decision, the Region will be able to maintain the current fishing levels, which will be beneficial to the income of fishers as well as to Azorean canneries," stated the Regional Directorate for Fisheries.

Luís Costa also highlighted the approval of the proposal to increase the flexibility of the closed fishing season for bluefin tuna in the Atlantic for vessels using pole and line fishing techniques, which is commonly used by regional vessels.

Hence, the Region will have the possibility of defining the most suitable period for the closed fishing season in the Atlantic with the regard to bluefin tuna.

Besides welcoming these two measures, the Autonomous Region of the Azores also defended the reinforcement of the quota for bigeye tuna at the annual ICCAT meeting. As the state of bigeye tuna stock will be subject to a scientific assessment in 2014, the Commission announced that the revision of any quota will be dependent on the outcome of this assessment.

Luís Costa also restated that the Regional Secretariat for Natural Resources intends to promote the marketing of tuna through the creation of distribution channels, particularly with the United States.

The next annual meeting held by ICCAT, the Commission in charge of the management and conservation of tunas and similar species, will take place in Italy in November 2014.