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| News Headline |
| ICCAT slashes bluefin quota, but is it enough? |
| By NCMC |
| Thu, Nov 19, 2009 |
Recife, Brazil -- The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) voted on November 15, 2009 to cut catches of eastern bluefin tuna by a third, from a 2010 quota of 19,950 tonnes to 13,500 tonnes. The move came as a last-ditch attempt by the disgraced tuna commission to ward off a trade ban that will be considered next spring. <http://www.savethefish.org/action_items_bluefin_CITES2.htm>
"The impending threat of a total ban on trade in bluefin undoubtedly motivated ICCAT countries to bring the catch down by quite a bit," says Ken Hinman, president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC) and an advisor to the U.S. Delegation. "But is the lower quota enough to save the species, and is it enough to convince the world that an endangered listing under CITES is no longer necessary?"
The United States went to ICCAT after announcing its "strong support" for listing Atlantic bluefin tuna under Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species when CITES meets in March 2010. But the U.S. qualified that support with hopes that the tuna commission would bite the bullet at its November 7-15 meeting in Brazil and listen to its own scientific committee's advice on what catch cuts are needed to stop overfishing and start recovery.
That scientific advice, unfortunately, is open to some interpretation. Not about the sorry state of the bluefin population, which is indisputable. But ICCAT's scientists gave managers a range of acceptable catch levels, from 8,000 to 15,000 tonnes, depending on different theories about future stock productivity and the rate of recovery. Read the full story. <http://www.savethefish.org/conservation_news_bluefin_ICCAT.htm> |
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