WWF: Mediterranean Tuna Fishing ‘Out of Control’ ROMEÂ –
Countries are ignoring limits on fishing in the Mediterranean
Sea, endangering the existence of one of the highly prized
bluefin tuna, the environmental campaign group WWF said on
Wednesday. The green group is staging protests outside a meeting
in Seville, Spain this week of the body which governs tuna
fishing, to pressure governments to stick to quotas which aim to
keep fish stocks viable but that, it says, are being flouted.
"We have now reached crisis point for bluefin tuna in the
Mediterranean, said Sergi Tudela, of WWF’s Rome-based
Mediterranean project. WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund,
estimated that 45,000-50,000 tons of bluefin tuna were caught in
2004, well beyond the 32,000 ton quota allowed by the
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
(ICCAT). It expects the over-fishing to be even greater this
year and says the practice of tuna farming — fattening up the
wild fish in cages, often to produce much sought-after s