Japan tuna brokers rally against bluefin trade ban

Raw tuna is a key ingredient in traditional dishes such as sushi and sashimi, and the bluefin variety — called "hon-maguro" here — is particularly prized.

"This is like telling the U.S. to stop eating beef," said Kimio Amano, a 36-year-old broker who has worked at the market for 20 years.

But global stocks of bluefin are dwindling, especially in the Atlantic, and governments around the world are increasingly supporting a complete trade ban to let the fish recover. About 80 percent of the species ends up in Japan.

The protest took place just days before the start of a March 13-27 meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, in Doha, Qatar. At that meeting 175 member nations will vote on whether to add the fish to a list of animals threatened with extinction, banning international trade.

Tokyo is strongly against the ban but faces increasing opposition from other countries, and many Japanese feel the country is being singled out by the international community. EU governments decided Wednesday they will support the ban, following a similar move by the U.S. last week. Two-thirds approval is needed to pass it.

On Thursday at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, members of a powerful brokers' cooperative — who buy and sell the tuna that flows into the metropolis from as far away as Ireland and Malta — gathered to voice their disapproval.

About 100 dealers, many dressed in their work boots and shiny waterproof overalls, stepped away from their stalls to stage a protest in the crowded and pungent market. As small lifts loaded with fresh catch whizzed about, they signed a petition and then chanted slogans for better use of ocean resources.

Like many in Japan, their stance is that an Atlantic ban would be unnecessary with stricter management of existing tuna. The Japanese tuna industry also contends that it could pave the way to broader restrictions.

"Our biggest hope is that this doesn't spread to the Pacific. For this reason we are promoting strict resource management — we are even supporting putting a tag on each and every tuna caught," said Tadao Ban, head of the Tokyo cooperative for large fish dealers.

Bluefin tuna stocks in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean have dropped 60 percent from 1997 to 2007, and environmentalists argue that an outright ban is the only solution left to preserve the species.

If a ban is approved, Japan has said it may decide not to comply with it by registering a reservation on the measure, meaning it could engage in trade with any other nation that also files a reservation. It is unclear how many other countries would also do so, but activists say this could seriously undermine any ban.

Quotas on the annual catch are already set by another group, the International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, and Japan believes it should continue to regulate the industry. The organization has already cut the annual catch of Atlantic bluefin by 40 percent this year to 14,900 tons (13,500 metric tons).

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