Rejected trade ban ‘sounds death knell’ for bluefin tuna
By MICHAEL CASEY, with Andrew Darby and agencies
March 20, 2010 DOHA: Fishing nations have voted down environmentalists, with a US-backed proposal to ban export of the Atlantic bluefin tuna overwhelmingly rejected at a UN wildlife meeting. The decision has been described as the end for the species. The US and European Union, which had backed the ban, expressed regret at the decision in Qatar as environmental groups issued dire forecasts of annihilation for the costly fish. Patrick Van Klaveren, head of the Monaco delegation that submitted the ban proposal, said the UN body had sounded the death knell for bluefin tuna. ”It will not be [the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] that is the ruin of professional [fisheries],” he said. ”It will be nature that lays down the sanction, and it will be beyond appeal.” Japan won over scores of poorer nations with a campaign that played on fears a ban would devastate their economies. Tokyo also raised doubts that such a radical move was scientifically sound. … With stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna down 75 per cent due to over-fishing, the European Commission said the trade ban’s rejection threatened the survival of the ocean predator. Environmental group Greenpeace also warned the vote ”sets the species on a pathway to extinction”. ”Let’s take science and throw it out the door,” Susan Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environment Group in Washington, said sarcastically. ”It’s pretty irresponsible of the governments to hear the science and ignore the science. Clearly, there was pressure from the fishing interests. The fish is too valuable for its own good.” …
