Marrakech/Madrid - Environmental organizations Tuesday criticized an agreement reached by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to promote the recovery of Mediterranean bluefin tuna.

The measures were totally insufficient to protect the species, which overfishing had brought to the brink of collapse, environmentalists said.

The consensus, reached Monday by 45 ICCAT contracting countries and the European Union in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, cuts the total allowable catch for 2009 to
22,000 tons, down from 28,500 tons this year.

The catch is to be further cut to 19,950 tons by 2010.

Marrakesh/Madrid  - Environmental organizations Monday warned that the Mediterranean stocks of bluefin tuna are on the brink of collapse, calling for a fishing stop to allow the species to recuperate.

Demand for tuna had led to illegal and above-quota fishing, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned as 46 countries and other contracting parties to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) met in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

Scientists recommend an annual fishing limit of 15,000 tons for East Atlantic bluefin tuna, but the captures amounted to 61,000 tons in 2007, the organization Oceana said, calling for permanent tuna reserves in key spawning areas.