Tuna ban sunk!

Dar she blows! - "U.N. Rejects Export Ban on Atlantic Bluefin Tuna," by David Jolly & John M. Broder. The New York Times, 18 Mar 2010 - link.

Despite winning over EU and the US and overwhelming scientific info, the proposed Appendix I listing for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABT) was torpedoed by Japan's active lobbying. Many developing countries was swayed by fear-mongering that their own tuna fishery would be affected directly or in the future.

In the end, really, there was simply too much money involved. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the regional fishery body managing the ABT, has been strongly criticised for failing to do its job, and ABT stocks has plummeted by about 70% since 1950. Conservation NGOs had whimsically referred to ICCAT as the "International Conspiracy to Fish All Tunas"...

This big fight at CITES foreshadows another show-down at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting in November this year between Japan and the anti-whaling lobby...

See "Why Japan Keeps Fighting the Whale Wars," by Bryan Walsh. Time, 13 Mar 2010 - link.