GENOA, Italy — November 18, 2014 — Fishing nations agreed Monday to boost catches of bluefin tuna by 20 percent over three years in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic.
The decision was the culmination of a weeklong meeting in Genoa of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
ICCAT comprises 48 countries, including Japan, the United States and members of the European Union.
Japan alone consumes more than three-quarters of the global annual catch, according to World Wide Fund for Nature.
But they failed once more to back a ban on catching sharks for their fins — a practice fueled by demand in Asia — or to strengthen protection for the Mediterranean swordfish, sources close to the conference said.
The tuna decision came against the backdrop of an apparent recovery in stocks of Atlantic bluefin.
Read the full story from The Japan Times