The US Government has announced that it will support a trade ban on bluefin tuna at the CITES meeting in Doha, Qatar.
In Doha on 13-25 March, 175 nations will meet to consider including the bluefin tuna and other threatened species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Annex 1, which would in effect mean no more international trade in this commodity, a price ingredient for sushi lovers.
When Monaco proposed such a ban to the EU late last year, the Obama administration did not immediately support the concept, saying that it wanted to wait and see if the bodies managing the fisheries would be able to set limits on their own first.
Realising no such efforts have been successful, the US Government now says it will support such a ban right out.
“The regulatory mechanisms that have been relied upon have failed to do the job,” Tom Strickland, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, who will lead the U.S. delegation to the CITES conference, told the Washington Post.
“We are literally at a moment where if we don’t get this right, we could see this very, very special species really at risk for survival.”
As for the EU, The Council voted down the proposal from Monaco, but the Italian government has later come out in favour, as well as France, and the European Parliament voted on February 10 to support a ban.
Other Mediterranean nations, such as Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta still oppose, and the Commission is now working on bringing the ministers together for a joint position before the Doha conference. The Commission has said that it wants an Annex 1 listing, but not until next year.
The Japanese Fisheries minister, representing three quarters of the global bluefin tuna consumption, has come out strongly against a trade ban.