Croatia halts tuna fishing for rest of the year

Croatian fishermen have been told to stop catching blue fin tuna in the Adriatic until the end of the year because quotas have been met, the Agriculture Ministry said.

"The ministry has decided to enforce a ban on tuna fishing with any tools from October 10 until the end of the year, because the quotas for 2008 have been met," it said in a statement.

Croatia is a member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, which sets annual quotas for members, and the ministry said the quota for Croatia was 833 tonnes.

Tuna fishing has become big business in the Mediterranean and Croatia's wild tuna is especially in demand in Japan, the biggest tuna market in the world.

Tuna stocks have been threatened by overfishing and pollution, and curbs have been imposed to try to revive them.