japan says it won't comply with bluefin tuna ban

[skinner]

Japan says it won't comply with bluefin tuna ban


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Saving the bluefin tuna
The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish.



Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 5, 2010; 3:56 AM

TOKYO -- Japan and the United States keep rubbing each other the wrong way.

This Story fall, it was a quarrel -- still unresolved -- over the location of a noisy U.S. military airfield in Okinawa. This year, the stormy U.S. reaction to Toyota's recall troubles has been interpreted by many people here as Japan-bashing.


Now, the trouble is fish.

Bluefin tuna -- the crown jewel of sushi, the fish Japanese eat more of than any people on earth -- are straining ties between the United States and its closest Asian ally.
The U.S. government said this week that it supports a proposed ban on international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna because the species is at risk of extinction. The adult population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin has plunged 74 percent in the past 50 years, much of it in the past decade. In the western Atlantic, the population has fallen 82 percent.
Japan, which eats an estimated three-quarters of the world's annual bluefin catch, announced Thursday that it would not comply with such a ban.

"If worst comes to worst, Japan will have no choice but to lodge its reservations," Masahiko Yamada, a vice minister who oversees fisheries, told reporters. "Since the United States has made its position clear, it has become tough for Japan."
The proposed ban will be considered in mid-March when representatives from 175 countries meet in Doha, Qatar, to vote on measures to protect bluefin tuna and other at-risk species under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Special of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Japan, after years of exceeding its quota for bluefin, has recently reduced its catch substantially -- and the government here says it believes it has done enough to ensure species survival.
But Japan's taste for bluefin tuna has gone global, ratcheting up prices and demand, while decimating supply in many of the world's oceans. Many marine scientists say that a complete ban is justified by scientific data.



Monaco proposed the bluefin ban late last year, but the U.S. government did not immediately support it. The European Commission has asked that member governments go along with the ban. So far, France has signaled it would support delayed implementation, while Greece, Spain and Italy -- where fishing interests are powerful -- have opposed it. The ban needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

At Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, where a dawn auction sets the global price for tuna, long-time veterans of the bluefin trade said Japan has been backed into a corner by its longtime friend, the United States.

"The United States just changed its position," said Takashi Saito, 76, a bluefin wholesaler for six decades. "I feel that what happened with Okinawa and with Toyota is being extended to the tuna issue as well. It is just Japan-bashing."

Bluefin tuna are by far the most valuable fish in the sea. In 2001, a single fish sold for $173,600 at Tsukiji. Prices of $10,000 or more per fish are routine. About a third of the bluefin sold at Tsukiji come from the Atlantic and Mediterranean region.
In the market, fish wholesalers agreed that global restrictions in the bluefin catch make sense, when they are based on academic data. But they said there is no way Japan can go along with a bluefin ban.

"There is no choice for the Japanese government," said Saito. "We Japanese eat tuna."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.

[fishinmission78]

"There is no choice for the Japanese government," said Saito. "We Japanese eat tuna."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.

Effing arrogant Japs. We crushed them in the war and they have been paying us back ever since. How many people know that there are hardly any fish near the shores of Japan. You go fishing there and have to be happy catching a 1lb fish. You would think they would learn from that. The only thing they learned was to reverse engineer american technology and make it better. Forget about conservation, that's for the other countries to follow.

[voyager35]

I don't think you will ever bring them in compliance. They still operate whaling ships disguised as "research". Tuna is worth billions to them. I can't see any reductions on their part.

[Surfcast23]

I think the threat of trade sanctions would get there attention, but that would never happen.

[surferman]

Agreed. The only way to get them to comply is through their money belt.

[Rip-Plugger]

So,mighty japan won't adhere to the ban,,,such would be expected as they have "research" to kill whales for study,,actually they sell whale meat on their open market.

1 humpback whale is worth a bit more than 1 million bucks to them.I believe they are allowed to take 50 whales of either 1 species or multiple species.
I do know they kill sei whales and minki[not sure of the selling] whales too.

when I first heard about this ban thing,I KNEW japan would not be any part of it.
perhaps they will start netting/eating bunkers after the bluefins go extinct.
at any rate,they are the worst overfishers on earth and they don't support their own future 'er join in to help save.
I don't know if it's the people as a whole or a scant few that want money but hell,it could be their govt thats against it.
anyhow,our bluefin is in big trouble and those that exploit them and others need to step up and save their [the fishs']race.

I remember when I was in 7th grade,as I was a fisherman then,my science and history teachers were too.
we made an after school fishing club.

that was my first wading experience and it was great,2 fat choppers on a gold creek chub popper.
my teachers would also show b&w flims on fishing and one was bluefin tuna.
they were monsters to,some topped out at 13 feet long and most were around 8-9 feet.
what beasts they were.
they fed on bluefish and I was amazed at the sheer size of them,like a submarine.

now,,,,well you know the deal,the best I ever saw was 667 pounds on a hook in Sng Harbor Rhode Island,I don't know how long it was but it took my breath away.

anyhoo,I hope fate or god 'er whatever intervenes and keeps this monster alive 'cause japan would take the very last one if they could!!!!!!!


R-P

[jonthepain]

those sob's.

"We Japanese eat tuna."

not for long

[DarkSkies]

TOKYO, March 19, 2010 Japan Welcomes Failure of Tuna Fishing Ban

World's Biggest Consumer of Atlantic Bluefin Avoids Global Ban, But Agrees to Restrict Overfishing

• A chef at a sushi bar near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market holds up a dish of hand-rolled tuna sushi on March 19, 2010. (Kyodo via AP Images)

(AP) 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 U.N. 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 pink and red meat of the fish - called "hon-maguro" here - would soar or that it might even vanish from some menus.

Stocks of the fish 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 environmentalists say ICCAT has repeatedly failed to enforce catch limits - and that the quotas themselves are insufficient.

"ICCAT is not able to manage sustainable fishing," said Wakao Hanaoka, ocean campaigner with Greenpeace in Tokyo.

"For Japanese consumers, this is the wrong direction," he added. "Consumers here love to eat sushi and want to pass this along to the next generation, but what the Japanese government is doing is totally opposite to this."

A major daily, the Asahi newspaper, 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.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6313939.shtml

[DarkSkies]

Sent in by Rip-Plugger, thanks!
He informs me they're running a series on tuna, on the History Channel. Check it out if you get a chance.