GLOUCESTER, Mass. — September 28, 2012 — Efforts to conserve giant bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, keyed to protecting juveniles, are working, according to a report in a leading Spanish newspaper.
The report focused on a draft study by a committee of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, or ICCAT, and was published last Friday in El Pais, Spain’s largest circulation daily. A synopsis of the lengthy article was also posted on the website atuna.com.
The news is especially encouraging because the U.S. and other Western Hemisphere nations for years have followed what is considered responsible policies only to see the Mediterranean bluefin — which mix with western Atlantic stocks — captured young, penned up and bulked up with food the way geese are force-fed to produce the best foie gras before slaughter.
El Pais’s article has quickly gained international attention for the optimistic findings by the panel of ICCAT.
World Wildlife Foundation, which helped craft the Mediterranean tuna conservation plan, said it “welcomes this good news.”
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times