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CRUNCH TIME FOR ENDANGERED TUNA
19 February 1998
Canberra -- Japan's actions at a meeting in Canberra today could push the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna another step closer to extinction, Greenpeace warned.
The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) is meeting for the third time to set the 1998 tuna quota for its members - Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The previous two attempts failed to set a quota because of Japan's hardline demand for a 3000 tonne increase and plans to introduce an experimental fishing program.
Greenpeace warned that the Japanese Government's opposition to conservation measures for southern bluefin tuna could set the species on an irreversible path to extinction, and lead to the demise of the CCSBT. Japan has already threatened to quit the commission.
"Southern bluefin tuna is being hunted to extinction," said Greenpeace campaigner Darren Gladman. "Japan, which is the major fishing nation for southern bluefin tuna and its major consumer, is now demanding even more quota. How low do the stocks of southern bluefin tuna have to get before the fishery is suspended?"
Stocks of southern bluefin tuna are so severely depleted that in 1996 the World Conservation Union listed the species as "critically endangered" and placed it on its Red List of endangered species alongside the Black Rhinoceros and Mountain Gorilla.
Australian Government scientists have predicted that if the current level of fishing continues there is a greater than 50% likelihood that spawning stocks will be reduced to zero by the year 2020. If Japan's demand for a 3000 tonne increase is granted, that likelihood increases to 75%.
"The CCSBT has been unable to fulfil its role of conserving the southern bluefin tuna," said Gladman. "If Japan, Australia and New Zealand are unable to agree on measures to rebuild southern bluefin tuna stocks and stem the increase in global fishing for the species, then the CCSBT will go down in history as the body which drove its target species to extinction."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
- Darren Gladman or Denise Boyd in Canberra on 0416 111013
- Louise Fraser in Sydney 02 92614666.