EU firms up bluefin tuna fishing ban support

Yahoo News 9 Sep 09;

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Plans to ban bluefin tuna fishing worldwide, which would throw the huge market for Japanese sushi into turmoil, received provisional backing on Wednesday from the European Union.

"This decision marks an important step in the protection of Atlantic bluefin tuna," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement.

"We must act on the best scientific evidence available to us -- and scientists say that urgent action is needed to safeguard the future of one of the ocean's most emblematic creatures."

A source said the EU would back a two year temporary ban and so is supporting a bid by Monaco to place bluefin tuna on a list of the world's most endangered species.

But a fishermen's association grouping fleets from Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain termed the Brussels' stance as "nonsense."

According to the proposal put to the UN agency against illegal wildlife trade CITES, tuna stocks are so fragile that the species should be classified as being at threat of extinction.

EU member states will examine the "provisional" proposal on 21 September ahead of a CITES vote in Qatar in March 2010.

"It will be very important to see what the latest scientific advice says," Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg added in the statement.

He placed the onus on the 48-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to explain the latest scientific recommendations, existing data stemming only from 2008.

"If ICCAT plays its role efficiently and we can ensure full compliance, a complete trade ban can be avoided," he added.

The commission also said it would take into the impact on the fishing industry before seeking majority backing from the EU's 27 member countries.

Some 80 percent of Atlantic bluefin tuna fished out of the Mediterranean ends up in the Japanese market.

EU to back temporary bluefin tuna fishing ban: source
Yahoo News 8 Sep 09;

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union is preparing to back a temporary ban on bluefin tuna fishing which would see the suspension of catches around the world, a source linked to the dossier said Tuesday.

The source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that environment and fishing experts at the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, had reached an agreement to back a ban in the interests of preserving stocks.

As one of the most popular sushi staples, bluefin tuna has become increasingly in demand in recent years and its stocks have plummeted over the last decade in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The commission is set to make public its stance on Wednesday or Thursday to back a proposal by Monaco to place bluefin tuna on the list of the world's most endangered species, which could ban international trade of the fish.

According to the proposal put to the UN agency against illegal wildlife trade CITES, stocks are so fragile that the species should be classified as being at threat of extinction.

"The idea is not to definitively ban fishing but to suspend it for two years, for example, to allow the species to build up again," the source in Brussels said.

But the commission's position will still have to win majority backing from the European Union's 27 member countries before becoming the bloc's official stance in March, when 175 CITES countries meet in Qatar.

In a statement, the environmental organisation WWF welcomed the decision and urged national EU governments to endorse it.

"Some EU member states have already joined the call to temporarily ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin, and WWF now urges other countries to follow the European Commission?s lead and back the trade suspension," said WWF representative Tony Long.

Europe unites in attempt to protect bluefin tuna
Compromise deal with opponents of fishing ban welcomed
Martin Hickman, The Independent 9 Sep 09;

Europe is to throw its weight behind a campaign to save the bluefin tuna from decades of over-fishing after a breakthrough in talks in Brussels.

The European Commission announced a compromise deal backing an attempt to list the Mediterranean fish as an endangered species while waiting for further scientific evidence on the latest population numbers after the EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg backed down.

Europe is now expected to vote as a bloc of 27 nations in favour of a proposal to protect bluefin tuna under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) which – if approved by a majority of 175 nations around the world – would ban all international trade in the fish.

Environmentalists expressed their delight at the issue, saying it represented the best chance of allowing the tuna to recover from intense demand in Japan, which imports 90 per cent of Europe's bluefin for sushi.

At the last count the population of the Northern Atlantic Bluefin in the Mediterranean had sunk to 18 per cent of its 1970 level, although the small size of specimens on the Tokyo fish markets suggests its collapse is more serious.

Europe has been divided on what action to take. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria favoured a complete trade ban but the move had been resisted by the capital of the bluefin industry Malta and, it is thought, by Spain and Italy, which also have a big commercial interest in bluefin.

The Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, who backed the Cites proposal, was at loggerheads with his fisheries counterpart, Mr Borg.

Mr Borg, from Malta, had been insisting that time be allowed for a bluefin recovery plan which was agreed by the International Convention on the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat), whose poor record on conserving the fish has led to it being dubbed the International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.

The impasse meant support for a ban was in danger of collapsing, raising the prospect of a compromise of limited trade being allowed instead, which environmentalists said would provide cover for widespread illegal fishing.

However a compromise was reached after Mr Borg backed down, and the Commission provisionally agreed to back a proposal for a ban at Cites in March, subject to the latest assessment of stocks from Iccat in November.

In a statement yesterday, the EC said: "Given that the European Commission services share many of the concerns expressed by Monaco about the state of the stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, they consider that the Community could provisionally co-sponsor the proposal by Monaco requesting the listing of BFT in Cites Appendix I."

In a sign that the EC might drop its support if Icatt announces a recovery in bluefin numbers, the EC cautioned: "Whereas it appears for the time being that the criteria for such a listing may be met, the Commission services note that the assessment on which the Monaco proposal is based draws from scientific advice issued in October 2008."

The EC proposal will be put to a meeting of President Barroso's Cabinet tomorrow.

The Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "It is great news that the commission is showing its support for the proposal to give bluefin tuna the highest form of protection, which the UK is backing strongly." He said the UK would seek support for the proposal from other EU states.

Tony Long, director of WWF in Brussels, said: "Commissioners Dimas and Borg have made the right choice, leading the EU to heed urgent scientific advice that Atlantic bluefin tuna is dangerously close to collapse and needs a break." Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace, said: "Today's move doesn't mean that this fish is saved yet. Member states still need to agree to support this ban, and follow the lead of countries like the UK."

Opposition to over-fishing has been growing since the release of the film The End of the Line, which pictures what may have been the last big summer hunt for bluefin in the Mediterranean. Charles Clover, the author of the book on which the film was based, also called The End of the Line, said: "It may have been collapsing while we were filming." Celebrities signed a letter by the actress Greta Scacchi to President Barroso urging him to avoid bluefin tuna going extinct "on his watch."