European Union will propose that the 27 EU governments ban commercial bluefin tuna fishing by classifying the species as being under threat of extinction. It is expected that if the EU supports the tuna ban then the bloc could take a united stance to the next meeting of the UN-backed wildlife trade agency CITES scheduled for Doha in March.
It is said that if CITES consider heavily fished bluefin tuna as an endangered species, then a commercial fishing ban would automatically follow. The EU Commission’s proposal will be made on the margins of a meeting of EU farm and fisheries ministers in Brussels on Monday. European parliament has already voted to include bluefin tuna, 80 percent of which lands on Japanese plates after being caught, to be put on the endangered list.
France, the biggest producer of bluefin tuna for consumption, has already expressed its support of a ban but for a limited duration and not for another 18 months. But Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta continue to oppose a ban. Earlier CITES said it supported a proposed ban on the international trade in bluefin tuna, which will be examined by its 175 national members next month.
