The European Commission backs a ban on the trade in bluefin tuna [Print...]
The EU executive on Wednesday (9 September) agreed to a proposal to be presented to the bloc's member states to co-sponsor alongside non-EU country Monaco a temporary suspension on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The ban through a CITES listing should give the fish a chance to recover, according to the commission. The commission's environment department had recommended in August, in a draft report, "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," the report continued. The move, championed by environment commissioner Stavros Dimas and his fisheries counterpart Joe Borg, was cheered by conservationists who took the opportunity to chastise current EU fisheries management for leading to such a situation. Mr Dimas said on Wednesday: "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." "Bluefin tuna has become endangered because of disgraceful fisheries management in the EU. The suspension of trade is a last resort and it merely buys the EU time to put its fisheries management in order," said Saskia Richartz, a marine affairs specialist with Greenpeace's European office. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) noted that some EU member states have already backed a temporary ban and was now urging other countries to follow suit. The proposal to list the tuna as an endangered species was originally tabled by Monaco in July at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the inter-governmental body responsible for the conservation of tuna.
