On 13 June the European Commission claimed that the bluefin tuna fishing season must finish two weeks early, because stocks of the fish were getting very low.
Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg complained of "countless failures to properly implement the rules,” regarding the fishing for tuna, and that as many as eight French purse seine trawlers had spent up to 21 days since the start of the season after the prized fish, but had not declared any catches at all.
But Mr Barnier was quoted in the French weekly Le Journal de Dimanche that "the commission's figures are based on estimates or projections more than on facts" and he added "only 52% of France's quotas were full".
Greenpeace environmental action group claim there is the likelihood that the bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean will collapse because the species is being over-fished and is threatened by this.
