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| Japan’s scrapping of 132 long-line tuna
fishing ships signals that nation’s strong commitment to the conservation
of the oceans resources. It must be followed by similar actions by
those tuna-fishing nations with large “Flags of Convenience” (FOC) fleets,
according to international conservationist, Eugene Lapointe, former Secretary-General
of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES).
“Japan is to be congratulated for its leadership in its decisive action to relieve worldwide fishing pressure on tuna. Now other nations must follow suit. Their ‘Flags of Convenience’ fishing fleets must be removed from the seas, if tuna are to be conserved,” said Lapointe, president of the International Wildlife Managers Consortium-World Conservation Trust, an internationally respected organization dedicated to the sustainable conservation of nature’s resources and the rights and sovereignty of cultures and nations. The fleet reduction move completed by the end of March of this year was the result of a commitment by the Japanese Government and Japanese Tuna Association to the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its Committee on Fisheries (COFI). The task cost 28.6 billion Japanese Yen. Economically scrapping the 132 fishing vessels put 1300 Japanese fishermen out of work and caused substantial hardships to countless others who supplied bait and equipment to the fleet. The greatest economic toll will be felt by the fishing city of Kesennuma. Similar fleet reductions by other fishing nations, including the decommissioning of “Flags of Convenience” ships (vessels owned by one nation literally flying the flag of another) must occur, according to Lapointe, if the move by Japan is to be meaningful. Nations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia have extensive FOC tuna fleets, some numbering in the hundreds. Lapointe acknowledged that Japanese tuna fishermen most directly hit by this fleet reduction are calling for Japan and other nations to close markets to FOC-caught tuna. Concern over the effect of fishing pressure and other environmental
stresses on tuna including consumption by small cetaceans (porpoises etc.)
has been expressed by international regulatory bodies such as the Commission
for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) and the International
Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Calls for
inclusion of bluefin tuna on limited or non-trade listings by the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
have been issued by some extreme animal rights groups. ¨
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