Proposed tuna ban defeated

Malta's multi-million tuna industry lives to fight another day after EU member states yesterday rejected a proposal to ban international trade in the species in order to protect it from further decline.

A vote was taken at the end of a meeting of EU fisheries representatives in which the majority of member states opposed a European Commission decision to provisionally co-sponsor an initiative taken by Monaco.

Monaco had proposed to list the fish under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at a meeting of the convention in March 2010, which would mean a total ban on trade in bluefin tuna.

Malta was among those who voted against the proposal yesterday. The island is known to have lobbied hard with other EU member states to defeat the Commission's position, which would have spelled disaster for the island's lucrative tuna industry.

The Commission had argued that the EU could offer its provisional support to Monaco's proposal while awaiting further scientific evidence on the population status of Atlantic bluefin tuna and the outcome of the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in November.

A Commission official told The Times after the meeting that yesterday's decision by member states meant "Monaco's proposal is effectively dead" and the Commission would now stop any initiative taken towards a total ban.

The official response of the Commission was mixed, reflecting the contrasting position taken by its different directorates over the issue.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, who was all in favour of a trade ban, said he regretted the member states' decision.

On the other hand, Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, who originally opposed the proposal made by the Commission, preferring a less drastic approach, said it was now up to ICCAT to assume its full responsibility to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna.

"Now more than ever, every effort has to be made to give the ICCAT multiannual plan greater clout and to make it more effective, in line with scientific advice. ICCAT members have to realise that the very future of this iconic stock depends on it," he said.

It was a known secret in the Commission's corridors that Commissioners Dimas and Borg were not seeing eye-to-eye on this issue. Many pro-environment NGOs had in fact accused Dr Borg of being influenced by his country's interests in the trade and by his personal bid to obtain a second mandate for another five-year term at the Commission. Dr Borg denied these accusations.

Local tuna exports to the Japanese Sushi markets last year reached a value of €100 million. Maltese fishermen were also up in arms against the position taken by the Commission, arguing that tuna accounts for two-thirds of their annual income.