Tuna stocks threatened

Urgent measures to save falling stocks of tuna in the world's second biggest tuna fishery — the eastern Pacific— have failed to be implemented, according to several environmental groups. Closure of the fishery, both by area and by time, was demanded by the groups to protect rapidly decreasing Pacific populations of yellowfin and bigeye tuna. But the annual meeting of the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in Panama last month failed to reach agreement amongst member states to produce a binding conservation agreement. Tuna stocks around the world, especially the five most commercial species — skipjack, bigeye, yellowfin, bluefin and albacore — are declining as their economic value increases sharply. The EU closed the bluefin tuna fisheries within its waters two weeks early last month, as environmental groups warned about quotas higher than scientists believe are sustainable and large-scale illegal fishing exceeding even these quotas leading to a potential imminent collapse in these tuna stocks. And even the IATTC's own data on bigeye and yellowfin populations reveal they are declining and the average size of caught fish is decreasing. But fishing capacity, effort and efficiency are on the rise and the high capture rate of juveniles before they reach reproductive age is exacerbating population declines, the environmental groups warn. The IATTC is known for its expert scientific staff, its strong fishery vessel observer program and its successful program to reduce dolphin mortality by purse-seine fishing vessels. But, as environmental groups observed, the positions taken by some member states are based on short-term economic considerations rather than the long-term sustainability of the fisheries on which the food and job security of tens of thousands of people depend. " It remains to be seen whether the mounting pressure from the general public and seafood wholesale buyers, retailers and consumers will be enough to promote international cooperation at the IATTC, " the environmental groups say. " The failure to reach consensus was largely attributable to Colombia, which obstructed progress and even called into question the authority of the IATTC to issue binding conservation regulations, " the environmental groups concluded. Colombia, the newest member of the IATTC, " effectively derailed the negotiation process by demanding a special exemption from implementing the seven-week closure period to allow fish stock recovery that all other member nations agreed to, " they write. The environmental groups include the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Conservation International, Ocean Conservancy, Humane …