Europe backs trade ban to save blue fin tuna

The move was welcomed by WWF, whihc has been campaigning on the issue 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, has agreed 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 the Commission's proposal 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.

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 said it hopes to see a sustainably managed, thriving fishery around the Mediterranean again in the years to come.

Related links:

Mediterranean bluefin tuna near collapse

Also from The Independent see Europe unites in attempt to protect bluefin tuna

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