PARIS – Representatives from 48 countries are preparing to set fishing quotas for the Atlantic bluefin, which swims waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean and which conservation group WWF says is "on the brink of extinction."
Environmentalists are pressing for dramatic cuts to the current annual quota of 13,500 metric tons in the Mediterranean, where they say fraud and overfishing is rampant. Some are even demanding a suspension of bluefin fishing entirely at the meeting, which runs until Nov. 27.
Conservationists say the tracking system is full of holes and that scientists don't have decent enough data to make an informed recommendation about what the quota should be.
Read the complete story by Angela Doland of the Associated Press at The Boston Globe.