The latest two-week long meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) saw bureaucrats sweep aside expert advice on how to save the bluefin tuna.The bluefin tuna is close to extinction.
Years of research by marine and fisheries experts have concluded that the bluefin tuna's days are numbered, and unless there is an immediate ban it will become extinct in the very near future.
Some experts fear its population in the Atlantic has already fallen below sustainable levels.A bluefin tuna can go for as much as $175.000 for one fish in Japan. So it is a matter of status to be able to afford to eat the bluefin tuna.
A vote was taken at CITES to put a temporary ban on bluefin tuna to help it recover. Sounds reasonable, don't you think?
Leading opposition to the ban was Japan, where most of the world catch is consumed in sushi restaurants.
Japan argued that a ban would be unfair, but the science supporting reasoned analysis was pushed to one side by politics, amid claims that Japan was trading promises of donor aid to developing countries in exchange for votes.Unfair in what way? Unfair to those who simply can not live without eating the bluefin? Unbelievable.
Japan prevailed and the bluefin tuna may be doomed.Good job, Japan! How much tuna do you think you will eat when there is no tuna?
BBC News article on the subject: How bureaucrats decided not to save the bluefin tuna.
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