Japan has found another partner in opposing a ban on the cross-border trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna that is now being debated at an international meeting in Qatar. Tokyo claimed that China too not agree with this ban. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said that Jpana is ready to do the best to block a trade ban, which has US and European Union support, at the world talks on wildlife protection.
He informed that China has not announced its stance officially, but is actively lobbying other countries to oppose the ban. He added there are countries which are neutral or wavering. It is fact that Japan consumes three-quarters of the global catch of bluefin, which is highly prized in sushi and sashimi and can fetch more than 100,000 dollars per fish, and the government has said it would ignore a ban.
Japan has been pushing its case at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In Seoul on Monday, the Japanese vice farm minister, Masahiko Yamada, pressed his South Korean counterpart to support Japan’s position. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said that it is diffuclt to predict anything at this time. Okada also said it was difficult to take preemptive action against expected protests by the militant environmental group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society against tuna fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.
