Pacific bluefin tuna. (Photo: NOAA)
Mexican tuna shipments to the Japanese market could be threatened
MEXICO
Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 02:20 (GMT + 9)
The Fisheries Agency of Japan is assessing to request local importers to avoid importing bluefin tuna native of Mexico in order to exercise pressure on the country for it to take action against overfishing in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese government will decide whether to take the measure depending on what happens at the next meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the Kyodo news agency reported.
The meeting began this Monday in the California town of La Jolla, United States, and will end on Wednesday 29 October.
Japan, which is currently the world's largest consumer of tuna, intends this resource fishing to be managed effectively, since it is in danger.
Attendees to the meeting will discuss a proposal from Japan to reduce the catch of juvenile bluefin tuna being less than 30 kilograms by 50 per cent in the eastern Pacific.
It is unknown if Mexico and other nations will accept this proposal.
If this initiative is not taken, the Fisheries Agency would choose to make the request – in no case binding -- to large companies from the Asian country and other importers to push harder on Mexico.
According to available data, in 2012 the Mexican fleet captured about 5,280 tonnes of juvenile bluefin tuna in the Pacific, almost half of global fisheries resources in the region and exported most of the catch to the Japanese market.
Related articles:
- Northern Pacific countries agree to cut bluefin tuna captures
- Warnings over low western and central Pacific tuna stocks
- Govt plans to limit Pacific bluefin tuna catch
- Juvenile bluefin tuna catch to be cut in the Northern Pacific
By Analia Murias
editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media
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