U.N. rejects export ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna

Worldwide bluefin tuna populations declined by roughly 80 percent since 1970. Japan, which consumes nearly 80 percent of the bluefin catch, argued at a recent United Nations meeting on endangered species conservation that “the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or Iccat, should be responsible for regulating the fishery, not the United Nations.” Japan and other fishing nations were uneasy about possible regulation by the international endangered species convention in a major commercial fishery.  Bluefin tuna, called "hon-maguro" in Japan, is considered a luxury.