I wonder how EU citizens feel about financially contributing to the extinction of bluefin tuna.....I'm guessing most woudn't be too impressed, but I'm also guessing very few have any idea. It turns out that 34.5 million euros has been pumped into builing new boats and pimping out existing ones in an effort to increase capacity in a fleet already far too great seeking out far too few fish.
Last month ICCAT failed to close the fishery or take truly strong action to protect the species from commercial extinction. But, there is little wonder the Mediterranean countries blocked proper protection for the bluefin when they're being subsidized to catch every last one. Our oceans campaigner based in the UK writes more about the role the EU is playing in fueling the overexploitation of the Northern bluefin....he calls it Subsidizing extinction...
Meanwhile, in Rome an FAO expert panel on commercially traded marine species is meeting to consider whether it will recommend that bluefin be listed under CITES, and thus trade restrictions be put in place.
Bluefin is one of various species under consideration for trade restrictions, reminding us that the bluefin has become what the atlantic cod once was, the poster child for the plight of our global fish stocks and the overfishing, mismanagment, greed and political inaction that plagues them.
The panel is very influencial and the outcomes from this meeting will shape what happens at the CITES meeting in March. Many of the countries that will attend the CITES meeting look to the panel for guidance and positions on such matters.
Because major fishing interests are usually hesitant to list commercially valuable marine fish species under endangreed species laws or conventions that would hinder the catch and flow of these products between key markets, CITES, which usually assesses all species proposed for listing, has made an agreement with the FAO that all assessments of marine species will be conducted by them. Let's hope the FAO panel are as convinced as the rest of us that trade of bluefin MUST be banned.