SavingSeaFood - ICCAT: Pew Environmental Group urges crack-down on illegal tuna fishing

News

ICCAT: Pew Environmental Group urges crack-down on illegal tuna fishing

The Pew Environment Group said it is “guardedly optimistic” the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) will adopt its proposals this year to crack down on illegal fishing in their upcoming meeting in İstanbul.

The Pew Environmental Group, headquartered in Washington, D.C., will push ICCAT’s 48 member governments during its 22nd regular meeting to strengthen its controls against illegal fishing and work toward sustainable fishing.

Lieberman said the group will urge ICCAT members to tighten controls to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna and other species, to stop overfishing and support sustainable fishing methods and to conserve porbeagle, silky and other threatened sharks.

The group recently released a report that found illegal and fraudulent fishing of bluefin tuna on the rise. According to the report, the amount of bluefin tuna traded globally last year exceeded the official quota by 141 percent. Two years prior, that gap was 31 percent.

Read the complete story from Today's Zaman

HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act

May 18, 2012 - When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important today as it was back then. However, after nearly 40 years, it’s time to take a fresh, honest look at the law and consider whether there are ways it could be improved to do a better job of protecting and recovering species.

More Opinion >