No Agreement Reached on Southern Bluefin Tuna Catch Reduction

The 12th Annual Meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT12), held on 11-15 October 2005 in Taipei, Taiwan and Narita, Japan, failed to reach any agreement on a recommendation for a reduction of about 30 percent in the catch quota for 2006. The only decision made was that the total catch for 2006 shall not exceed the 14,080 tons caught last year.

At the meeting, the CCSBT Science Committee reported that the spawning biomass has been declining in the waters around Indonesia, a spawning ground for southern bluefin tuna, and it also emphasized that no further decline in the stock should be allowed. To stabilize the tuna stock, the committee recommended that the quota in 2006 be reduced by around 30 percent to 9,930 tons, and in 2007 by 45 percent to 7,770 tons.

Regarding the recommendation, Australia and Taiwan emphasized the supported cutbacks by the end of 2007, while New Zealand and South Korea backed the reduction for 2006. Meanwhile, Japan expressed difficulties implementing the cut in 2006. As a result, the committee failed to obtain any agreement from participating nations.

The committee agreed to hold a special meeting in July 2006 to talk about the levels of reduction in 2007.

http://www.ccsbt.org/index.html

Posted: 2006/02/22 09:28:16 AM
Japanese version