ID :
70907
Sat, 07/18/2009 - 13:16
Auther :

Monaco likely to propose int`l trade ban on bluefin tuna

TOKYO, July 17 Kyodo -
Monaco plans to propose an international trade ban on bluefin tuna in the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean as an endangered species subject to protection
for conservation purposes under the so-called Washington Convention, sources
familiar with the matter said Friday.
Monaco is likely to make the proposal when signatory nations of the convention,
officially called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora, get together in Qatar in March next year, they said.
Britain and France, a tuna fishing country, are considering supporting the
proposal if it is ever put forward.
Bluefin tuna is caught in the Western Pacific, Eastern Atlantic and
Mediterranean and is largely consumed in Japan as high-quality sashimi and
sushi. Although the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas has set bluefin tuna catch quotas, widespread overfishing is feared to
deplete tuna stocks especially in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Monaco considers that massive exports of bluefin tuna to Japan and the
ineffectiveness of catch quotas by the ICCAT are behind plunging stocks, the
sources said.
An international trade ban on bluefin tuna will be adopted if more than
two-thirds of voters endorse it at the coming Qatar meeting. More than 170
countries have signed the Washington Convention.
==Kyodo

X