WWF is renewing its calls for an international trade ban in Atlantic bluefin tuna, after it says the commission responsible for managing stocks, failed to agree on measures that will ensure the recovery of the species.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas endorsed a proposal from its chair, the EU, Japan, Morocco and Tunisia to drop the 2010 eastern bluefin quota from 19,500 tonnes to 13,500 tonnes, still far too high to enable stock recovery.
A key study presented to ICCAT in Recife showed even a strictly enforced 8,000-tonne quota would have only a 50 per cent chance of achieving a recovery in eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna by 2023. Another ICCAT study showed only a total fishing halt yielded significant chances of the bluefin population recovering enough to no longer qualify for high-level trade restrictions by 2019.
Sally Bailey, Marine Programme Manager at WWF-UK said: “Now, more than ever, WWF sees a global trade ban as the only hope for Atlantic bluefin. ICCAT’s reduction in quota is not based on scientific advice, and is entirely unacceptable.”
