PARIS – Four major non-governmental organisations called on Tuesday for an outright ban on industrial fishing of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and 'ranching' of this fast-dwindling species in the Mediterranean.
The joint appeal came on the eve of a meeting in Paris of the 48-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), which sets the rules and quotas for tuna fishing in both seas. 'Bluefin tuna fishing does not have a future unless ICCAT shuts down purse-seine fishing and farming,' Maria-Jose Cornax, an expert with advocacy group Oceana, told journalists.
In the Mediterranean, the vast majority of captured bluefin are trapped during spawning season by 30-to-40 metre ships, using floating drawstring nets that can enclose more than 2,000 fish at once. The tuna, still in the water, are then hauled to coastal 'farms' where they are fattened before being shipped mainly to Japan, which consumes 80 per cent of the annual catch.
Eastern Atlantic bluefin stocks have dropped by 85 percent in 30 years, which 'should be a warning sign to governments,' said Remi Parmentier, a consultant for the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.
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