At its late November meeting, the International commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna agreed to ban the harvest of oceanic whitetip sharks, increase restrictions on hammerheads and devise a meant to punish counties that float accurate catch reporting, and approved catch reductions on shorfin marco sharks. The mako reductions won't start, however, until 2013 due to objections by Japan, China and Korea. ICCAT declined to prohibit the taking of common thresher and porbeagle sharks under pressure from Canada. Attempts to outlaw harvesting shark fins at sea failed for the second yea in a row when Japan opposed the ban.
At the same ICCAT meeting, the United States suggested a 3-to-5 year ban on bluefin fishing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea over concern that the stock might collapse if current overfishing continues. No action was taken on this,however.
The U.S. delegation helped push through continued measures requiring release of live Atlantic marlin from longline vessels as well as quotas on commercial landings. The Billfish Foundation's Ellen Peel lauds these measures as creating "the 1st positive increase in white marlin stocks in moe than three decades." In addition, the U.S. successfully urged an extension of north Atlantic swordfish conservation rules for another year.
Back in 2006, ICCAT scientists had recommended a maximum catch limit of 15000 metric tons in those areas. ICCAT passed a 29.000 metric-ton quota for 2007, nearly twice the scientifically recommended level. However, due to less-than-effective reporting methods, combined with outright illegal fishing, an estimated 20.500 additional tons of bluefin tuna were harvested.
Find more at iccat.int
At the same ICCAT meeting, the United States suggested a 3-to-5 year ban on bluefin fishing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea over concern that the stock might collapse if current overfishing continues. No action was taken on this,however.
The U.S. delegation helped push through continued measures requiring release of live Atlantic marlin from longline vessels as well as quotas on commercial landings. The Billfish Foundation's Ellen Peel lauds these measures as creating "the 1st positive increase in white marlin stocks in moe than three decades." In addition, the U.S. successfully urged an extension of north Atlantic swordfish conservation rules for another year.
Back in 2006, ICCAT scientists had recommended a maximum catch limit of 15000 metric tons in those areas. ICCAT passed a 29.000 metric-ton quota for 2007, nearly twice the scientifically recommended level. However, due to less-than-effective reporting methods, combined with outright illegal fishing, an estimated 20.500 additional tons of bluefin tuna were harvested.
Find more at iccat.int
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