Japan Ignores Any Ban on Bluefin Tuna

By: Qinyan Huang

        Every time I go to a sushi restaurant, I will normally be looking forward to my favorite fish, tuna and toro, but now, I do not order them anymore. However, I still see the high demand of Bluefin tuna in sushi restaurant. Sushi chefs use all kinds of bluefin from Atlantic, Pacific and the Southern. Japan bought about 80 per cent of all the Atlantic blue fin tunas caught last year, making up roughly half of the entire blue fin Japanese ate. Scientists are now managing to breed tuna in captivity, but not yet in volumes that can ease the pressure on wild stocks. However, the most shocking news is that Japan will not join in any agreement to ban the international trade in Atlantic blue fin tuna under the United Nations treaty on endangered species, the country's top fisheries negotiator said. The negotiator, Masanori Miyahara, said in a telephone interview this week that Japan "would have no choice but to take a reservation" in effect, to ignore the ban and leave its market open to continued imports, if the species was granted most-endangered species status. "It's a pity," he said, "but it's a matter of principle." Mr. Miyahara, Japan's top delegate to the United Nations Convention.