Britain takes up tuna's cause
Government joins forces with France to press for global ban on sale of bluefin
Martin Hickman, The Independent 16 Jul 09;
Britain is to join France lobbying governments around the world for an international ban on the sale of the bluefin tuna, which is on the brink of extinction after years of over-fishing.
The fisheries minister Huw Irranca-Davies told The Independent the UK would back and seek support in Washington and other international capitals for a proposal to ban the fish at Cites (the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species).
France, which has a bigger bluefin fishing fleet than anyone else, also announced yesterday it would back a Cites ban, bringing a a real prospect that the fish – which will be wiped out in the Mediterranean by 2012, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) – may be saved.
Speaking of the need to protect global fish stocks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it's too late."
Wildlife groups were elated at support for the ban, which would bypass management by the fisheries body in charge of the bluefin tuna, Iccat (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas), which has been roundly derided for its failure to protect the fish.
However it is almost certain to put the UK on a collision course with Japan, where bluefin is highly-prized as sushi and sashimi. A single fish can fetch $100,000 [£60,800] in Tokyo, making it the most expensive food on earth.
Motivated by the bounty, organised crime in Italy is believed to be involved in the Mediterranean fishery, which is believed to land 60,000 tons of bluefin a year, almost treble the legal catch and four times the amount recommended by scientists. Concern has grown this summer following the screening of the docu-film The End of the Line, which presented the bluefin as the starkest example of 21st Century over-fishing.
Nobu, the Japanese restaurant chain, attracted criticism for continuing to serve the fish at its eateries in London, despite acknowledging on its menu that it was a "vulnerable" and advising diners to choose an alternative.
Monaco, the tiny Mediterranean principality, has been privately canvassing support for a Cites ban during recent weeks. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Irranca-Davies said: "We've been in some discussions with Monaco to see how that proposal is progressing. Our biodversity unit has been talking with their counterparts in Monaco and other Cites member states – the US and Canada – to see whether there's any appetite for proposing this action and what form it might take.
"Now we've had sight of the proposals in the last day or so, I can confirm that the UK will support a Cites listing of bluefin tuna. We do think this is not a substitute for Iccat and the work it does, but we are pleased to give that proposal for Cites listing our strong support. We hope that others will come on board as well."
Providing it attracts sufficient support, Monaco will table its resolution by 17 October for Cites's meeting in Doha, in Qatar, in March. A ban – requiring a two-thirds majority – would take effect 90 days later, ending the annual summer bluefin hunt.
Asked whether he was braced for a fight with Japan, Mr Irranca-Davies said: "I don't think we need to get into a fight over this. There will be people for whom this bluefin tuna is important either as a consumer nation or as a fishing nation, but what we cannot get away from is the stark evidence that is staring us in the face."
Willie MacKenzie, Greenpeace oceans campaigner, said: "It's fantastic the UK is taking such a strong stance on bluefin by backing the listing on Cites, and it's one that an increasingly-aware British public will welcome. Not only does this show the UK's understanding of the severity of the problem, but it must compel other countries, notably the US, to follow suit. Bluefin tuna are the blue whales of our time, and have been relentlessly over-exploited for far too long."
"This iconic species has long disappeared from UK waters and we need to ensure the same does not happen in the Mediterranean," said Sally Bailey, marine programme manager at WWF, who praised the UK's "great step forward."
Charles Clover, author of the book The End of the Line, while also welcoming the action, said there was evidence that bluefin tuna of breeding age had already been fished out.
"France is one of the nations principally responsible for wiping it out," he said. "There are no mature spawners on the Japanese market. A third of the fish that are being sold are under the legal size."
"What's coming together now is that everybody knows there's no fish left in the sea. They probably caught them all in 2007, while we were filming it. This is Europe's great fisheries disaster."
France joins Monaco in call for international trade ban for endangered bluefin tuna
WWF 16 Jul 09;
Rome, Italy/Paris, France – President Nicolas Sarkozy of France today announced his country’s support for a ban of international trade in endangered Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, joining a growing call to list the overexploited fish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – before it disappears forever from the sea and our plates.
Speaking at the close of a national stakeholder consultation on France’s future sustainable fisheries and maritime policy, the ‘Grenelle de la Mer’, President Sarkozy said today: “France supports listing bluefin tuna on the CITES convention to ban international trade.”
Mr Sarkozy put this in the context of France’s support for a broader sustainable fisheries policy. “Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it’s too late – we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in future. We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations,” he said.
The Principality of Monaco was first to communicate its willingness to sponsor a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, and has this week launched a formal CITES consultation process to seek the support of other range states – countries through whose waters the species swims.
“WWF welcomes the Monaco initiative and the position of France, whose fleets have traditionally caught more bluefin tuna than any other country,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “We now urge France to put its words into action and be the first country to formally sign up to Monaco’s proposal for CITES Appendix I, which would ban international trade.”
“WWF also appeals to other range states to follow this lead and support the proposal to list Atlantic bluefin on the CITES convention – if they want to give bluefin tuna a break and see a healthy fishery again in years to come. This iconic species is simply at the end of its tether.”
CITES contracting parties next confer in Doha, Qatar 13-25 March 2010, but proposals need to be submitted by 17 October to be eligible for consideration at the Conference of the Parties.
Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna is in big trouble, and the fishery is insufficiently policed. Contributing to the species’ dramatic decline are the huge overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that far exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, the use of illegal spotting planes to chase tuna, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures that disregard scientific advice – all driven by the insatiable appetite of the world’s luxury seafood markets where bluefin tuna fetches record prices.
“In terms of eligibility for a listing on CITES Appendix I, Atlantic bluefin tuna ticks every box – and then some,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme. “CITES contracting parties would surely regret failing to protect this commercially overexploited species, and an icon of the oceans, from collapse on their watch – while they have this historic chance.”
“Fisheries managers have failed to get to grips with the complex fiasco of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery,” added Tudela. “WWF hopes to see a sustainably managed and thriving fishery in future, but to enable this recovery the species must be given a breather – if the world does not put the brakes on its voracious appetite now, an amazing species and fishery could be lost forever.”
