Bluefin Tuna voted down

Nations in CITES has voted against the listing of Bluefin Tuna onto Appendices 1, despite the actions of Monaco, the EU and the US. Strong lobbying from Japan swayed many poor nations into a vote against the proposal.

This is a disappointing development for Bluefin stocks that are estimated at 10-15% of original biomass and facing heavy fishing for export to sashmi markets. Management actions will remain in the international organisation ICCAT and with national governments that have failed to restore stocks.

This does open the door to more market oriented approaches targeting consumers, and much more work now remains to be done in easing pressure on, and restoring Bluefin stocks in the face of significant pressure from the fishing industry and nations in favour of fishing down this endangered species.

The full report is here.

Further comments and analysis welcome and we'll be posting these in the next few days.