Japan to cut Atlantic bluefin tuna catch

Japan will cut its Atlantic bluefin tuna catch by 23% by 2010 in an effort to help preserve stocks of the endangered fish, the country’s fisheries agency announced today.

The reduction is in line with an agreement reached last November by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to cut catches in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean from 32,000 tonnes in 2006, to 25,500 tonnes in 2010, said agency official Masanori Miyahara.

ICCAT determined allocations for Japan and the commission’s other members at a three-day interim meeting held in Tokyo since Monday to set fishing quotas for each year through 2010, said Miyahara.

Under the ICCAT agreement, Japan will reduce its total catch of the Atlantic bluefin tuna – which produces some of the finest and most expensive fish dishes in the world – from 2,830 tonnes in 2006 to 2,174 tonnes in 2010, a Fisheries Agency statement said.

The European Union agreed to reduce its catch to 14,504 tonnes in 2010 from 18,301 tonnes in 2006 – nearly a 21% cut.

The fish has been a staple for Mediterranean communities since ancient time and scientists have said that cuts would have to be much more drastic than those ICCAT agreed to last November to assure the commercial survival of the species.

The dark red meat is now craved for the finest, fattiest – and costliest - sushi and sashimi from the markets in Tokyo to the hip restaurants in The Hague, Netherlands.

Concerns have been rising about the sustainability of the world’s tuna supply, the foundation of a highly lucrative business. The tuna export market in 2002, for instance, was £2.5bn (€3.75bn), according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

But stocks are clearly in trouble. In 2004, for example, the number of adult Atlantic bluefin tuna capable of spawning had plummeted to roughly 19% of the 1975 level in the western half of the ocean, according to ICCAT data.

Last week, international regulators adopted a plan at a meeting in western Japan aimed at slowing the decline in global tuna stocks by reining in illegal fishing, controlling the growth of fleets and sharing data on stock assessments.