World looks to ICCAT to overcome more than four decades of
failure to save tuna A WWF analysis of ICCAT's record, updated
for the Paris meeting, has found parallels between the collapse
of the Western Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery under ICCAT's
supervision in the 1990s and the current looming collapse of the
remaining Eastern Atlantic (Mediterranean) bluefin tuna fishery.
These parallels include periods of reduced catch limits when
frustration with ICCAT led to proposals for trade restrictions
under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) - followed by a return to inflated catches and
negligent management when the danger of international
intervention had passed. The WWF analysis clearly identifies the
key issue as ICCAT's woeful adherence to its original charter of
managing fisheries in accordance with scientific advice. At last
year's meeting, ICCAT’s own scientists established that Atlantic
bluefin tuna fitted the criteria for the highest level of trade
restrictions, as did a sub