Bluefin tuna on ‘path to extinction’ as fishing ban fails
Wildlife groups have expressed disappointment after a proposal to ban the fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna was rejected at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Doha.
Conservationists fear the bluefin tuna is heading for extinction following an 80 percent fall in stocks since the 1970s driven primarily by the Japanese sushi market’s appetite for the fish. Japan imports around 80 percent of all bluefin tuna catch and a single fish can fetch more than $100,000.
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Tokyo led opposition to moves to outlaw the tuna trade with 68 of the 175 countries attending this week’s CITES meeting voting against the ban. Just 20 governments backed the ban while 30 abstained, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
“After overwhelming scientific justification and growing political support in past months – with backing from the majority of catch quota holders on both sides of the Atlantic – it is scandalous that governments did not even get the chance to engage in meaningful debate about the international trade ban proposal for Atlantic bluefin tuna,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.
Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner Oliver Knowles said the failure to impose a ban spelled disaster for the species and set the tuna “on a pathway to extinction.”
Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, said that efforts to save the tuna had been hindered because governments were unprepared to cross fishing interests by banning the lucrative trade.
European nations Spain, France and Italy, whose fishermen profit most from the trade, have been reluctant to support an outright ban despite support for the move elsewhere within the European Union.
The failure of the bluefin tuna fishing ban marked a second disappointment for campaigners in Doha after U.S.-sponsored moves to ban the international trade in products made from polar bears also failed.