A new front in the environmental battle over bluefin tuna was opened yesterday, Oct. 15, to try to protect the dwindling populations facing commercial wipe out in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
On the last day possible before a conference next year, Monaco nominated Atlantic bluefin tuna to be added to the list of species that can’t be traded internationally under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Wild Fauna and Flora. This sets the stage for a high-stakes battle in March, when the next Conference of the Parties to the convention will meet to consider nominations.
Environmental groups criticized the Obama Administration for failing to formally endorse Monaco’s nomination. In response US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator Jane Lubchenco issued a statement saying the administration “strongly supports” Monaco’s nomination but wants an 11th hour-attempt to work within another international conservation framework to reduce fishing quotas and improve regulation.
That framework, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) sets quotas for member nations and is to closely monitor them. But it has been harshly criticized for failing to lower the take over the last 40 years – as the adult stocks plunged by 72 percent in the eastern Atlantic and 82 percent in the western Atlantic. And unchallenged illegal tuna fishing is an international pastime, which hasn’t been aggressively attacked either.