Proposals to prohibit international trade in bluefin tuna caught in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea were voted down March 18 at a U.N.-sponsored meeting in Doha, Qatar, attended by representatives of signatory states to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Japan, a big consumer of bluefin tuna, had feared the proposed ban would be adopted, but a larger-than-expected number of countries came out against it. China persuaded developing nations in Africa and elsewhere that are receiving economic assistance and investment from China to join it in opposing the ban. There was also division among member nations of the European Union.
Sixty-eight countries voted against a proposal by Monaco to add bluefin tuna to the so-called Appendix I, which would result in a complete trade ban, with 20 voting in favor and 30 abstaining. On an EU-tabled proposal to delay the Appendix I listing until May 2011, 72 countries voted against and 43 in favor, with 14 in abstention.