Brussels, 06/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - Due to differences of opinion among its members on the delicate issue of bluefin tuna, the European Commission has withdrawn from the agenda of its meeting on Wednesday 6 January the adoption of its recommendation on the position to be defended by the European Union at the forthcoming meeting, to be held in Doha (Qatar) from 13 to 25 March 2010, of the conference of the parties to the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
It is believed that the commissioners are divided over the issue of calling for bluefin tuna to be included in appendix I to the CITES Convention, which would mean a total ban on fishing it and selling it. It would appear that Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries, supported by a number of his colleagues, would prefer a less radical solution than placing bluefin tuna on appendix I to CITES. This solution would consist of asking ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) to ban fishing for bluefin tuna in the event of threats to stocks of this fish species. Other commissioners are calling for the EU to defend the inclusion of bluefin tuna on appendix I to CITES.
It is worth noting that the previous recommendation of the Commission favoured a temporary global ban on sales of bluefin tuna, which was rejected by the Council (EUROPE 9973), by a blocking minority made up of countries whose fishing crews catch this fish (including France, Italy and Spain). Then, in mid-November, ICCAT adopted fairly strict measures to safeguard bluefin tuna (reduction of total allowable catch for 2010 from 22,000 to 13,500 tonnes, halving fishing season for purse-seiners, setting in place an ambitious plan to reduce fishing capacities and reinforcing the traceability system for bluefin tuna, EUROPE 9973). (L.C./transl.fl)