Improve management of Pacific bluefin tuna

Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:52:37 +0900
I was much surprised the outcome of CITES CoP15. Yesterday, I talked about it as a chair of panel discussion of a symposium on biodiversity, organized by Ecological Society of Japan (ESJ) in front of ca.800 audience: "I predicted that proposal for the Atlantic bluefin tuna is accepted in CITES Appendix I because the absolutely majority of related scientists agreed to the listing. The outcome (reject) means that the CITES's decision was beyond science. I am afraid that a similar outcome (conflict between developed and developing countries beyond science) will appear in CBD CoP10." And I asked panelists for any idea of inclusion of scientific scopes into CoP10. I got no catchy answer.
Anyway, ICCAT needs to improve its managemet plan for ABT. CBD must encourage improvement of fisheries management of both Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna. Therefore, I like to have a side event on the management of PBT and ABT at CoP10. PBT is more serious because its international management system is weaker than ICCAT, and CITES may not be interested in PBT.