Posted by Willie — 4 February 2010 at 12:17pm
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At last, France has officially announced support for an international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin. This is great news. It means that 23 out of the 27 EU countries now support the species being protected by CITES (the organisation which regulates trade in endangered species). It also means there is no longer any effective block to stop the EU reaching a common position (at a previous vote, it had been blocked by the Mediterranean countries).
Two of the main fishing nations, Italy and France are supporting the trade ban, and Italy has already declared it is suspending its own fishery. That is pretty momentous. It's as if the proverbial turkeys have just voted for Christmas by a landslide.
Posted by Willie — 19 January 2010 at 4:22pm
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Charismatic megafauna at play. Did we get your attention?
The word 'biodiversity' is often bandied about as shorthand for 'lots of lovely animals
and plants'. We probably think of African plains teeming with herds of
antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, a jungle cacophonous with crickets, monkeys and
birds, or perhaps a coral reef that looks like a still from Finding Nemo.
But that's
because most of us are a little shallow when it comes to the species we
co-inhabit this planet with. We get overexcited by the big things, the cuddly
things, and the wow! things.
Posted by Willie — 12 January 2010 at 6:36pm
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Well, they may not be shouting about it, but it certainly looks that way. Ironically 2010 has been declared by the UN as 'International Year of Biodiversity', yet alarm bells are ringing for one iconic species already.
In a remarkable contrast from last summer, and autumn, when the UK Government were keen to tell us all how committed they were to saving the bluefin at every possible opportunity, our ministers have gone strangely silent on the issue since the ICCAT meeting in November.
Posted by Willie — 16 November 2009 at 11:36am
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As ICCAT souvenirs, delegates will be packing their bags in Recife with a delightful polo shirt emblazoned with 'ICCAT' and a bluefin tuna, and a pair of flip-flops in Brazilian colours.
Somehow this is quite fitting.
The meeting has just come to a close, and the rushed final sessions have agreed as much as they could. In that haste, several things were put off to be considered again next year. Like the protection of endangered mako and porbeagle sharks, and measures to reduce the bycatch of seabirds and turtles. These sorts of delays are common in ICCAT when agreements can't be reached. But hey, why do today what you can put off until next year, right?
Posted by jossc — 2 October 2009 at 4:01pm
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Yesterday’s 'Inside Story' on Al Jazeera TV was all about the collapse of bluefin tuna stock in the Mediterannean. The 25 minute programme provided a facinating insight into the politics and greed of the serious overfishing which has left bluefin on the verge of extinction.
Posted by Willie — 21 September 2009 at 7:13pm
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It's de rigueur in some quarters to dismiss France jokingly, as the Simpsons and some US political-types famously have done in the past. But the news today from Brussels suggests that the French government have made an embarrassing volte-face on bluefin tuna.
Posted by Willie — 8 September 2009 at 7:22pm
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Breaking news just in from Brussels - despite all the doubts and concerns some of us have harboured over the past few weeks, it seems the EU Commission is throwing its weight squarely behind the call for an international ban on the trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna!
This is big news - actually let's make that BIG NEWS.
A Greenpeace volunteer in front of an Icelandic whaler
Commercial whaling during the last century decimated most of the world's whale populations. Estimates suggest that between 1925, when the first whaling factory ship was introduced, and 1975, more than 1.5 million whales were killed in total.