Last Act for the Bluefin: L’editorial del New York Times, avui, dedicat a la reunió de l’ICCAT (Brasil)
L’Editorial d’avui del New York Times posa de manifest la dimensió de les converses que estan tenint lloc aquests dies a Brasil, en el si de la Comissió Internacional per a la Preservació de la Tonyina Atlàntica (ICCAT), i demana, de manera clara, que els Estats Units s’alineïn amb la proposta de Mònaco d’incorporar la Tonyina Vermella en l’Annex I de CITES. Adjunto l’article:
New York Times
Editorial
Last Act for the Bluefin
November 9, 2009
The international commission that sets fishing
limits for tuna and other large migratory fish is meeting in Brazil. The
commission faces a depressing reality: the bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic
and Mediterranean is headed toward commercial extinction.
From time to time, the commission has
marginally reduced the allowable catch, but never by as much as its scientists
have recommended, and never by enough to reverse the fish’s plunge toward
extinction. The only quota that will make a difference is zero. The tuna
fishery in the Mediterranean, where most of the fish spawn, should be shut
down, pure and simple, until scientists say the fish have reached sustainable
levels.
The United States delegation to the talks
should settle for nothing less. If the talks produce only a reduced quota —
given the makeup of the commission, that could happen — then the United States
should join Monaco and other nations that have been pressing to put tuna on the
international list of endangered species. Such a listing would allow fishermen
to sell bluefin domestically but would make the high-volume international trade
illegal, finally giving tuna a chance to recover. (segueix…)
Scientists say that overharvesting (much of it
illegal) has caused a 72 percent decline among adult bluefin tuna in the
eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean over the last 50 years. The smaller western
Atlantic stocks have shown similar declines but have now stabilized, partly
because of rigorous compliance by the United States.
Though shutting down a fishery is a drastic
step, scientists increasingly believe that it is the only way to save the
fishery, and that it has to be done soon, before the species reaches a point of
no return. That happened to the North Atlantic codfish, while closing nursery
areas to commercial fishing allowed the swordfish to rebound.
European countries with big industrial fleets
are sure to argue that dropping the allowable catch to, say, 15,000 tons a year
from the present 22,000 tons will do the trick. It won’t. We know the
commercial stakes are huge: bluefin fishing is a billion-dollar business that
is driven by a global appetite for tuna, particularly in Japan.
But what these governments and their fishing
interests need to recognize is that unless something is done now, soon there
will be no tuna left to fish.
Font foto: WWF/The end of the line