EC Rejects Ban on Bluefin Tuna

A harpooned bluefin tuna fish seen caught in a fishing net of the coast of Sicily. Photo ReutersGreenTracker| The World Wildlife Fund fears that the bluefin tuna will be extinct by 2012. This reality was not sufficient grounds for the European Commission to ban international trade in bluefin tuna, with six of the 27 EU member states blocking the ban.

Simply stated, economics triumphed sustainability concerns. The Japanese love their bluefin tuna.

More concernful, conservationalists appear to have lost ground to economic realities. Two years ago Spain reacted positively to a moratorium on tuna fishing and Sarkozy supported a trade embargo in France.

The European tuna policy has thus become more of a test case: the protection of a fish threatened with extinction in European waters versus fishing interests in the form of a limited but lucrative trade with the Japanese sushi industry. via NRC Handelsblad

More Reading: Overfishing to wipe out bluefin tuna in 3 years: WWF Reuters