A motion to ban cross border trade in bluefin tuna caught in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean under consideration by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is running into overt resistance by Japan and behind-the-scenes lobbying China, the AFP reported. Japan consumes three-quarters of the global catch of bluefin tuna, which sells for over US$100,000 per fish in Tokyo, and has already said it will ignore the ban. The EU nations and the US have accepted a report that stocks of bluefin tuna have crashed in both fisheries, but the Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Hirotaka Akamatsu said that China is not "actively lobbying" other countries to oppose the ban. Under CITES rules, a two-thirds majority of its 175 member states is required for the passage of the proposal.
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