RAINBOW WARRIOR GOES INTO ACTION AS FATE OF A SPECIES IS DECIDED

RAINBOW WARRIOR GOES INTO ACTION AS FATE OF A SPECIES IS DECIDED
Australia, 19 January 1998
The fate of a species so relentlessly overfished that it has been officially designated "critically endangered" and may disappear in under 25 years time --could be sealed at a crucial meeting beginning today.
The southern bluefin tuna, which can live up to 40 years, weigh as much as 200 kilograms and grow to two metres in length, is being driven to the brink of extinction in the southern oceans. The species migrates across the oceans of much of the southern hemisphere off South America, Southern Africa, South East Asia and Australasia.
As sashimi, southern bluefin fetches high prices on the Japanese market, where over 90 per cent of the fish are ultimately sold. Its numbers have crashed to betweeen two and five per cent of its original population levels in just 40 years. Figures from Australian government scientists predict that if increases in fishing quotas continue, there is a high probability that the southern bluefin may be extinct by the year 2020.
In 1996, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the species as "critically endangered", putting it on its Red List of endangered species -- alongside the Black Rhinoceros and Mountain Gorrilla. Greenpeace has called for a suspension of the fishery until the population recovers to a biologically safe level.
The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, is currently off the South Australian coast, documenting one of the fisheries responsible for the tuna's dramatic decline. Although Greenpeace has only been filming, tuna boat owners have already threatened legal action.
As the Rainbow Warrior continues its campaign to save the fish, three of the key governments responsible for the southern bluefin fishery -- Australia, Japan and New Zealand -- are meeting in Canberra, Australia today to discuss their quotas for the coming year. The meeting, of the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), was originally scheduled for October last year but was postponed when the participating countries failed to reach agreement.
The CCSBT is the body charged with managing the southern bluefin fishery. Greenpeace has applied twice for independent observer status at the CCSBT. Both applications were rejected.
"This is make or break time for this species," said Greenpeace Oceans Director Matthew Gianni. "These governments have got to recognize the future of southern bluefin is on the line. It is their clear reponsibility to call a halt an immediate halt to the destructive fishing practices which are driving this species inexorably towards extinction."

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