Sights on CITES: Bad News for Bluefin - Oceana USA
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March 18, 2010

Sights on CITES: Bad News for Bluefin

This is the fifth in a series of dispatches from CITES. You can read the other dispatches here.

Breaking news out of Doha: a trade ban on bluefin tuna (Appendix I listing) has been defeated, 20 votes to 68.

Although there were repeated calls from delegates from the E.U., U.S. and Monaco to allow time for parties to meet and arrive at a compromise position, a Libya delegate forced a preemptory vote on the E.U. proposal, which resulted in a 43 to 72 vote, with 14 abstaining.

Campaign director Dave Allison called the defeat “a clear win by short-term economic interest over the long-term health of the ocean and the rebuilding of Atlantic bluefin tuna populations.”

The decision could spell the beginning of the end for the tigers of the sea.

Here’s Oceana’s Maria Jose Cornax on the decision: