This is fact that the stocks of Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin have been severely depleted by years of heavy commercial fishing, while polar bears are considered threatened by hunting and the loss of sea ice because of global warming. US failed to convince delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or Cites, to provide strong international protection for the two species.
Juan Carlos Vásquez, a spokesman for the United Nations organization, told that the rejection shows that the governments are not ready to adopt trade bans as a way to protect species. Delegates voted down the proposal to protect bluefin by 68 to 20, with 30 abstentions. The rejection of the bluefin proposal was a clear victory for the Japanese government, which had vowed to go all out to stop the measure or else exempt itself from complying with it. Japan, which consumes nearly 80 percent of the bluefin catch, argued that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or Iccat, should be responsible for regulating the fishery, not the United Nations.
American officials expressed disappointment in the vote, but said they would keep trying in various international forums to protect the tuna and the bears. Tom Strickland, assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks, said that the bluefin tuna is an iconic fish species is in spectacular decline. While there is near-universal agreement that the bluefin stocks are in danger, Japan’s argument resonated with other fishing nations, which were uneasy about what would have been the first intrusion of the endangered species convention into a major commercial fishery.
Masanori Miyahara, chief counselor of the Fisheries Agency of Japan, said after the vote that Japan would now be under pressure to abide by Iccat’s new, lower quotas for bluefin harvesting.
