The fate to save the bluefin tuna from extinction received a jolt when the European Union dropped its demand for commercial fishing of the species to be banned. It is said that a rearguard action by Mediterranean fishing nations, including Spain, Italy and France, blocked moves to get the European Union to support a worldwide ban.
Conservationists backed by celebrities including Stephen Fry have called for a trading ban to give the species a chance to recover. Lobbying by Japan, whose sushi trade is heavily dependent on Europe’s bluefin exports, is thought to have played a vital role in the conservationists’ defeat.
Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the environment, was among those seriously hurt by the failure to conserve bluefin tuna. He is now pinning his hopes on a meeting in November of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to introduce tough measures to protect the fish. His official said that they need to come up with conservation protection measures that live up to the scientific evidence – which so far they have failed to do.
Bluefin tuna numbers have slumped to 18 percent of what they were less than 40 years ago, and individual fish are smaller than they once were. The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, was very much disappointed that the European Union has not agreed at this stage to support the proposal. She believe that full protection for bluefin tuna is urgent and necessary.
