| Japan says it won't comply with possible tuna ban TOKYO -- Japan will not comply if a ban is imposed on international PVC Tarpaulintrade生活 in Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized by Japanese for sushi, a senior official said after the United States threw its support behind the move ahead of a crucial vote. "If worse comes to worst, Japan will inevitably have to lodge its reservations," Vice Fishery Minister Masahiko Yamada told a news conference Thursday. His comments came a day after the United States threw its support behind the ban on the international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, which conservationists say risks extinction if current catch rates continue. At a March 13-25 meeting in Qatar, 175 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, will vote on a proposal by Monaco to list the species under Appendix 1 of the convention. If the measure wins support from two-thirds of member nations, trade of the fish would be banned. Environmentalists say that would significantly reduce the PVC Tarpaulincatch because 80 percent of all Atlantic bluefin ends up in Japan, where it is a key ingredient in sashimi and sushi. Fatty bluefin - called "o-toro" here - can go for as much as 2,000 yen ($22) a piece in high-end Tokyo restaurants. But Japan may register a reservation on the ban, which in practical terms means it could engage in trade with any other nation that also files a reservation. The impact of such a move remains unclear because it depends on how many other nations might also register reservations. But activists say it could seriously undermine any ban. "If major fishing nations show the same position as the Japanese government, it will ruin the concept of the CITES treaty," said Wakao Hanaoka, an ocean campaigner with Greenpeace in Tokyo. Bluefin tuna stocks in the Eastern Atlantic生活 and Mediterranean have dropped by 60 percent between 1997 and 2007, a result of surging PVC Tarpaulindemand as well as illegal and underreported catches. |
