Posted for Rex Dalton
A new front in the environmental battle over bluefin tuna was opened yesterday 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.
Lubchenco says that depending on the actions of ICCAT, the US will plot its course. The message seems to be clear that the threat of listing the Atlantic blue fin tuna as an Appendix I endangered species under CITES is being employed to make ICCAT take real protective measures.
“CITES is the only global treaty that has the authority to regulate and enforce trade measures to protect those species threatened by international trade,” says Joshua Reichert, managing director for the Pew Environmental Group.
While the Pew group says CITES listing “is the best route to pursue” Atlantic bluefin recovery, realistically the fledgling Obama Administration likely has to give ICCAT a final chance before throwing its political weight behind a halt in commercial trade in the animal.
In September, the European Union in Brussels failed to vote to back Monaco’s move and request a ban under CITES to permit stocks to recover. Despite this being supported by the European Commission a bloc of nations – including France, Spain, Italy and Greece, where tuna fishing is an historic tradition – prevented that measure. With ICCAT to meet in November in Recife, Brazil, the political heat will be rising for stronger quota and regulatory action. If the ICCAT route fails, a CITES listing finally could be in the offing.
Image: tuna for sale at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo / by Stewart via Flickr under creative commons.