A United Nations-backed wildlife conference in Qatar canned a proposal aimed at protecting the world's dwindling stock of Atlantic bluefin tuna Thursday, just hours after rejecting a similar trade ban on polar bear parts.

The bluefin debate has been going on since the early 1980s, Bloomberg noted. The fish has been a prize catch since the early 1900s for its use in sushi and other dishes. Recently, a number of scientists have come forward with data indicating that the fish faces a biological watershed and may even go extinct in the wild.

Delegates entered the Qatar conference with high hopes they could agree on a temporary ban on bluefin fishing, a last-ditch effort to save the species before an imminent collapse of stocks. But a contingent of countries led by Japan (the world's leader in bluefin consumption) were intent on scuttling the idea from the get-go, arguing that a ban on bluefin fishing would be "unworkable and unfair."

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