US backs bluefin tuna trade ban

The US government announced Wednesday (March 3) that it supports the proposed international trade ban of Atlantic bluefin tuna, to the delight of environmental group Oceana.

Oceana senior campaign director David Allison said, ''This is a necessary measure that has resulted from the failure of management by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and has unfortunately required this prohibition on international trade in bluefin tuna.''

Meanwhile, the final decision on the ban is expected to be made in two weeks at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar, and Allison believes the ban will pass.

Earlier, France voiced support for an international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna but urged delaying implementation of the ban by 18 months.

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) as two stocks (eastern and western). In November, ICCAT slashed the eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna quota to 13,500 tonnes in 2010, compared to 22,000 tonnes in 2009.

The environmental community had called for a far greater quota cut to protect eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks. The World Wildlife Fund highlighted a study presented to ICCAT that showed even an 8,000-tonne annual quota would have only a 50% chance of allowing stocks to recover by 2023.