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WWF is calling for an immediate three-year closure of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, following a season of unprecedented illegal and uncontrolled fishing which has resulted in massive over-quota catches.
“Mediterranean bluefin tuna is a dirty fishery, with huge illegal fishing and fraud,” says Miguel Jorge, Deputy Director of WWF’s Global Marine Programme. “This situation is the most scandalous case of fisheries mismanagement currently happening in the world - an immediate moratorium is now the only sure way to avoid collapse.”
According to WWF, Japanese traders are benefiting from this "mismanagement" - it says they buy the tuna at a low price, selling it on at a high price on the Japanese market. It claims that The Mitsubishi Corporation, for example - which accounts for some 40 per cent of Mediterranean bluefin imports to Japan - has been made aware by WWF of the crisis but is continuing to trade in Mediterranean bluefin as long as the fish is available for sale.
“Companies continuing to trade in Mediterranean bluefin are willing accomplices in the demise of this majestic species - the same principle applies to fish farming businesses like Ricardo Fuentes e Hijos, the biggest tuna farm company in the world, which dominates the Mediterranean farming industry,” adds Jorge.
According to WWF, there is no way of knowing whether a bluefin tuna is illegal or not. It says that, quite simply, if it comes from the Mediterranean, it is suspect.
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