Tuesday, November 30, 2010

When Conservation Means Consumption

So ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) failed again. The organization was unable to do the right thing. Last week, Eco Ocean asked ICCAT ahead of their recent meeting in Paris to sufficiently protect bluefin tuna. Instead, they capitulated to what...I don't know, the Japanese, greed, hubris, all of the above and more?

Hard to know because the ICCAT vote was extremely hush hush and happened completely behind closed doors. Even journalists and members of NGOs who were granted permission to view most of the sessions were kicked out when it came to the tuna vote. That's some fishy business (sorry couldn't resist the pun). But seriously, aren't these all our resources?

ICCAT has the power to make Atlantic bluefin fishing sustainable now and into the future yet they seem unable to get it done. They ought to take the word "conservation" out of their name. "Consumption" or "depletion" sound more appropriate.

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