Japan opposing Bluefin Tuna trade restrictions, European Union still deciding..

On Wedenday, the United States government decided to support prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna. Japan being the biggest consumer of bluefin tuna is still opposing the trade restrictions. The bluefin tuna has been big business in Japan so if they decided to support the international trade of Atalntic bluefin tuna they're economy will be impacted much greater than the United States and Europe. The fish is so valuable that a single bluefin sold for a record $173,600 at Tokyo's Tsukiji market in 2001. With each fish commanding tens of thousandths of dollars for every fish.
The European Union will be making their decision on whether it too will join in on the proposed ban on international commercial trade or if they will refrain from it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they too decided to oppose the ban since the Europe are is big seafood eaters.
Over the past half-century, the adult population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna has declined 74 percent, much of it in the past decade. In the western Atlantic, the population has dropped 82 percent in 40 years. In 2007, just 78,724 metric tons of spawning biomass remained in the Eastern Atlantic from a peak of more than 305,000 tons in the mid-1950s, the department said.
Change is hard but it’s necessary for the survival of this fish that turned to a delicacy worldwide.
Posted by Alfonso Chicharro III
Sites:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030301436.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0303/US-supports-trade-ban-on-bluefin-tuna