Ban Sought on International Bluefin Tuna Trade

Protection Under Global Treaty Would Slow Illegal Fishing, Improve Compliance With Catch Limits

The Center for Biological Diversity today requested that the United States seek protection for Atlantic bluefin tuna under an international treaty that would ban cross-border trade of this imperiled fish. Listing bluefin under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the major international treaty on endangered species, would  allow countries to shut down the black market that has fueled much of the tuna’s dramatic decline.

 “Illegal fishing is a scourge on bluefin tuna that undermines any attempt to recover healthy population levels. Any hope of pulling bluefin tuna back from the brink of extinction depends on unprecedented global cooperation to reduce overfishing,” said Catherine Kilduff, a Center staff attorney Kilduff….

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