- Title: JAPAN: Japanese tuna sellers protest possible ban
- Date: 12th March 2010
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MARCH 11, 2010) (REUTERS) TSUKIJI FISH MARKET SHOPS INSIDE MARKET FISH FOR SALE TSUKIJI FISH MARKET BUILDING PEOPLE SIGNING PETITIONS PEOPLE SIGNING PETITIONS MORE OF PEOPLE SIGNING PETITIONS TADAO BAN, PRESIDENT OF WHOLESALERS CO-OPERATIVE OF TOKYO FISH MARKET, STANDING AND SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TADAO BAN, PRESIDENT OF WHOLESALERS CO-OPERATIVE OF TOKYO FISH MARKET, SAYING: "We want to protect Japanese food culture and to prevent tuna from disappearing as a food source." PROTESTERS CHEERING PROTESTERS SHOUTING: "KEEP TUNA ON THE MARKET" PROTESTERS SHOUTING THAT THEY ARE "AGAINST THE WASHINGTON TREATY" (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MOTOJIRU NAKADA, 75-YEAR-OLD TUNA SELLER, SAYING: "If we were to only take large and mature fish, there wouldn't be a chance of them going extinct." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) NORIO SUZUKI, 36-YEAR-OLD TUNA SELLER, SAYING: "It seems like they're beating up on Japan." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) KOZUE OIKAWA, 24-YEAR-OLD WORKER AT TUNA SELLER, SAYING: "I would like them to figure out a strategy that would prevent a ban and would allow them to catch a certain amount."
- Embargoed: 27th March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: International Relations,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVAF0JBXR0HU7IU939YT6FYV7PJ1
- Story Text: Japanese tuna sellers hold protest ahead of possible tuna ban.
Japan's fish merchants campaigned on Thursday (March 11) against a movement in the United States and Europe to ban international trade in Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.
At Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market where some 2,000 tuna are auctioned every day, wholesalers signed a statement to protest the movement, which urges round haul netters be banned, to prevent the extinction of Atlantic Bluefin Tunas.
Some 500 merchants had signed within the first one hour of the campaign, which organisers said will be expanded to other local fish markets across the country.
"We want to protect Japanese food culture and to prevent tuna from disappearing as a food source," said Tadao Ban, president of Wholesalers Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market and the organiser of the campaign, speaking to fellow merchants.
The day before in Brussels, European Union ambassadors agreed to a proposal to protect Bluefin Tuna as an endangered species, a move that would effectively ban international trade in the species.
The United States also joined in the movement, announcing that Washington supported the EU-led proposal.
Scientists say stocks of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna -- which can fetch up to US$100,000 each -- have fallen by more than 80 percent over the last 40 years to around 3.2 million.
But wholesalers said concerns over the possible extinction of Bluefin Tuna would be an imaginary fear, if the giant, fatty fish are captured with care.
"If we were to only take large and mature fish, there wouldn't be a chance of them going extinct," Motojiru Nakada, who has been selling tuna in the fish market for the last 58 years, told Reuters.
Other merchants said it was another "bashing" on Japan over fishing regulations.
"It seems like they're beating up on Japan," said 36-year-old tuna seller Norio Suzuki.
But for customers like Kozue Oikawa, a 24-year-old accountant, he hopes his favorite sashimi and sushi dishes will somehow be able to stay on the menu.
"I would like them to figure out a strategy that would prevent a ban and would allow them to catch a certain amount," he said.
Some 175 countries are due to vote on the proposal in Doha, Qatar, later this month during the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that runs from March 13 to 25.
Monaco had proposed protecting Bluefin tuna by listing it under Appendix I of the CITES, also known as the Washington treaty.
A two-thirds majority is required for it to be accepted.
Japan's fishery minister was quoted last Thursday (March 4) as saying that Japan would not comply if a total ban on international trade in Atlantic Bluefin tuna was imposed.
"The point of the Washington treaty is to protect the species, but fundamentally I am not sure it's necessary for the Bluefin Tuna," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano during a regular news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
"Our position will remain on the management of resources and we will stick to that," Hirano added.
Atlantic Bluefin tuna is a highly valued fish, worth up to US$200-$300 per kilogram, but stocks have been depleting rapidly.
It is particularly sought-after in Japan, where a single fish can fetch as much as US$100,000. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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