Asia-Pacific

Japanese fish dealers welcome tuna ban rejection

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-19 11:34

TOKYO - Japanese fish dealers on Friday welcomed the rejection of a proposed trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna - a prized ingredient of sushi - while urging that existing quotas be more strictly enforced to protect the species from overfishing.

Thursday's vote at a UN meeting in Doha, Qatar, rejecting the ban was front-page news in all major Japanese newspapers Friday morning.

Japan consumes about 80 percent of the world's Atlantic bluefin tuna, and the possibility of a ban had consumers and fish wholesalers worried that prices for the fish - called "hon-maguro" here - would soar or that it might even vanish from some menus.

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have fallen by 60 percent from 1997 to 2007, and environmentalists argue that a trading ban imposed by the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, would protect the fish.

But the Japanese government and fishing industry say an outright export ban is too drastic a step, and that catch quotas set by another body, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, should be more strictly enforced to protect the species from overfishing. In November, ICCAT cut the annual global quota by 40 percent to 13,500 tons.

"Rather than ban exports, we should make sure to limit the number caught," said Kazuhiro Takayama, a fish wholesaler at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market. "A lot of people depend on this fish for their livelihoods."

Economic concerns appeared to trump environmental ones, as fishing nations from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean complained that any ban would damage their fishing communities and that fears of the stock's collapse were overstated.

The proposed trading ban garnered little support at the CITES meeting, with only the United States, Norway and Kenya supporting it outright. The European Union asked that implementation be delayed until May 2011 to give authorities time to respond to concerns about overfishing.

After the vote, Masanori Miyahara, chief counselor of Japan's Fisheries Agency, said pressure would be on his country and others who depend on the Atlantic bluefin to abide by ICCAT quotas.

Junichi Hakuta, a 52-year-old fish wholesaler at Tsukiji market who relies on tuna for half his business, acknowledged that he was worried about declining bluefin stocks, but said the media attention to the issue would contribute to conservation efforts.

"There is a problem with overfishing, and ICCAT needs to enforce its catch limits more strictly," Hakuta said as motorized carts whizzed by carrying containers filled with squid, fish and clams in ice water. "The whole world needs to work on this. We need to protect our resources. So I see this as a good result from the meeting."

Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, also wondered about the future of the declining bluefin.

"How will various countries cooperate to manage tuna resources? The immediate crisis has passed, but the biggest issue remains unresolved," it said in an analysis.