France seeks tuna export ban delay

France favours a ban on the export of bluefin tuna – but wants an 18-month delay before the measure would be imposed, ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo said today.

France’s neighbour, Monaco, has proposed the ban, which will be considered at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora at a meeting in Qatar in March.

Bluefin species numbers have fallen by nearly 75% since 1957, and conservationists say the fish faces extinction.

Under the terms of the proposal, Atlantic bluefin tuna would be listed in Appendix 1 of the convention, which would allow only domestic consumption within European Union countries.

Activists say that would lower the catch substantially because shipments to Japan would be prohibited.

French agriculture minister Bruno Le Maire said the delay was necessary to give scientific experts time to re-examine the issue and to study the possibility of allowing small scale fishing in coastal waters.

France wants the European Union to provide financing to those fishermen who would be affected by a ban.