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Qatar: Ban on trade in bluefin tuna rejected |
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Wednesday, 07 April 2010 15:06 |
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A decision from an official FAO panel that buefin tuna met the criteria qualifying it for a trade ban was insufficient to pass a proposal to ban the international trade in bluefin tuna. At the three-yearly meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held in Doha, Quatar, the proposal was rejected after a vote where 68 delegates were against, 20 in favour, and 30 abstained.
The United States, which strongly supported the ban, said that the vote “…was a setback for the Atlantic bluefin tuna, but we will keep fighting to ensure that the fishery is managed sustainably…” A compromise amendment tabled by Spain speaking for the EU that would let the species be delisted in the future was also rejected. The result is good news for Japan, which consumes 75% of the bluefin tuna catch, and which has been lobbying against a ban ever since it was proposed, but is less fortunate for tuna stocks which suffer from a combination of poor management and illegal fishing and whose levels have fallen to 15% of their historical peak. The onus is now on the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to manage the fishery in a sustainable manner.
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