TheFishSite Latest News
EC Backs Bluefin Tuna Trade Ban – WWF Urges EU To Follow
WWF has welcomed the decision and now urges European Union national governments to follow this lead.
The European Commission – led by Commissioners for the Environment (Stavros Dimas) and for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (Joe Borg) – agreed today on a proposal to European Union Member States to co-sponsor with the Principality of Monaco a listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This would temporarily ban all international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, and give the endangered species a chance of recovery.
“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,” said Tony Long, Director of WWF’s European Policy Office in Brussels. “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.”
EU countries will decide whether to accept or reject today’s proposal by the European Commission at a meeting on 21 September of the CITES Management Committee. The EU votes en bloc at CITES, whose next Conference of the Parties is in Doha, Qatar in March 2010.
The European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment had recommended in August, in a draft report, that “from a scientific and technical point of view, the criteria for the listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna appear to be met. (...) There is no doubt about the link between international trade and overexploitation of the species.”
Atlantic bluefin tuna has been subject to decades of massive overfishing and overexploitation, plagued by illegal takes and blatant disregard for scientific advice. Suspending trade through a CITES Appendix I listing will give the fish a chance to recover. WWF hopes to see a sustainably managed, thriving fishery around the Mediterranean again in the years to come.
TheFishSite News Desk
Related news items:
November Agriculture And Fisheries Council Agenda
Potential For Fishmeal-Free Salmon
Consultation On Net And Trap Licences
Tilapia-Skin Gelatine Next for Aquafinca- Protection for Island Cockle Industry
Related News Categories: Other Species of Fish, Government and Regulatory, Sustainability
More Fish Industry News
- November Agriculture And Fisheries Council Agenda
- Potential For Fishmeal-Free Salmon
Fish Wholesaling Industry Research
College To Boost Fish Farming- Consultation On Net And Trap Licences
- Fish farming in Paddy Fields Takes Off
- Tilapia-Skin Gelatine Next for Aquafinca
VIV China Reflects Development of Chinese Industry- Protection for Island Cockle Industry
Accessing Markets Directly To Improve Payments
