You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere someone decided to name a roller-coaster 'bluefin'. The ups, downs, twists, and turns are certainly hard to follow in this fish's political fortunes, and at the end it could end up making us all feel quite sick.
Post the farcical ICCAT meeting we have seen a follow-up meeting of ICCAT’s Pacific counterparts, whose jolly gathering in Tahiti showed a similar lack of ability and spine when it comes down to making useful or necessary decisions.
But, as we all wind down for Christmas, and everyone’s attention is focussed on the climactic climax in Copenhagen there are things happening behind closed doors in Europe that could seal the fate of Atlantic bluefin.
Basically EU member states like the UK have to now re-evaluate their position on a trade ban for Atlantic bluefin, post-ICCAT.
You’ll remember that ICCAT’s quotas were not enough to avoid stock collapse, nor has illegal fishing been addressed, but the issue here is whether ICCAT’s wishy washy outcomes provide a political fig leaf that countries can hide behind.
You may also remember that ICCAT’s own scientists agreed that Atlantic bluefin meet the criteria for an international trade ban; that 21 EU countries voted to support such a ban; and that the 6 countries who blocked that vote were the ones shown to be receiving millions in EU subsidies to fish bluefin!
Just last week another august body, the advisory panel for the FAO also had a majority of its participants conclude that a trade ban for bluefin was justified (this is no mean feat, as we’d all expected them to come down squarely against such a ban).
So, you could well be wondering why this is even an issue. Surely the stated position of the UK is clear? Well process-wise EU governments have to again decide what they think about bluefin, and then reach a consensus in the New Year. And there are worrying rumblings that some formerly-supportive nations may now think they should 'give ICCAT another chance'. This is utterly preposterous. Just how many last chances can they get? None of ICCAT’s 'new' measures will be in place or tested before the crucial CITES meeting in Doha in March – so giving ICCAT a chance, effectively means kicking CITES into the long grass.
We understand that the UK and some other nations are making up their mind this week. With everyone’s minds focused elsewhere, this could be a good week to bury bad bluefin news.
Hang on folks, this could well be a bumpy ride.
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