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.