Japan has conceded that it took more than it's quota of Southern Bluefin Tuna - effectively stealing from other countries - and has agreed to have it's quota cut in half over the next five years. It has also agreed to cuts in its Atlantic Bluefin quotas. In exchange, Australia has agreed to not prosecute Japan in the international court of justice. Japan has exceeded it's quota for twenty years, taking an extra 178000 tonnes, worth 6 to 8 billion dollars. Australian authorities believe the figure is greater than 250000 tonnes or $10billion. A single bluefin tuna can be worth more than a luxury car. A Japanese official described the sense of 'national shame' over the excessive harvest and his desire for Japan to maintain it's image as a responsible fishing nation. He also raised concerns about the threat from the Chinese fishing fleet.

This was on foreign correspondent last night. Apparently Japan is also cracking down on ilelgal fishing in local waters, which is tied to and funds crime networks such as the yakuza. It showed footage of a patrol boat colliding with an illegal fishing vessel in rough seas. The illegal fishing vessel capsized. Japanese fish farmers have also figured out how to breed bluefin in captivity. Currently most fish farms just fatten up wild caught tuna. However, farmed tuna is considered inferior by many people.

Japan has 2% of the world's population but consumes 10% of the global fish catch.

Japan has 2% of the world's population but consumes 10% of the global fish catch."
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So this is a big problem then -- 2% consuming 10% is way out of balance..

At this rate Blue fin Tuna will be fished out and soon.Do you think the sense of" national shame "is just spin? Tighter regulations etc are obviously needed here.

So, not having seen the program FD..what do you suggest be done? Funding crime networks is something else again. Out of control.

If the program airs again- Ill try to take a look.

It looks like the situation has been dealt with already. There are some Australian officials trying to monitor Japan's catch. Not sure how they do that, but they should continue to keep an eye on it. I have no particular problem with Japan consuming 10% of the fish. I suspect we sell a lot of fish to them and make a lot of money from it. Just so long as it is sustainable and they don't steal it, but you really need to know the details to judge that.

The japanese are only telling what they have done as the voting numbers in the whaling committee (?) are finally against them.
For years they have pressurised and bought votes from poorer nations to continue their whaling.
They have overfished for 20 years by their own admission!!!
Wonder what the real figures are ?
They are the most arrogant of the asian countries.  They will continue to overfish.

Gloomy outlook for humpbacks: Turnbull

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has left the International Whaling Commission meeting having apparently failed to persuade Japan to drop its Antarctic humpback kill later this year.

Mr Turnbull said Japan had essentially held the humpbacks hostage, proposing to take them unless anti-whaling countries agreed to Japan's coastal whaling plan  - a precedent that would open whales to widespread hunting by coastal communities globally.

He insisted that if Japan was serious about  engaging constructively on reconstructing the deadlocked IWC, then the single most effective gesture of goodwill it could give would be to drop the humpbacks from its scientific program.

"If the Japanese do not change their minds the outlook for at least 50 humpbacks in the Southern Ocean is bleak," he said.

Mr Turnbull left for a meeting in Cairns, but Japan's final say on the dispute at the IWC was expected to be heard in Anchorage later today.

It plans to take 50 humpback whales from Australian migratory stocks under a self-awarded scientific permit later this year, as it ramps up its Antarctic kill to more than 1,000 whales.

At the IWC meeting, anti-whaling nations again asserted their control over the majority.

After winning a vote to condemn scientific whaling, the anti-whaling nations today prevailed in another ballot which backed the moratorium on commercial whaling.

This overturned the watershed St Kitts Declaration last year, in which pro-whaling nations said the moratorium was no longer necessary.

"It reconfirms that the moratorium is as valid today as it was when it was first enacted 20 years ago," said Greenpeace campaigner Junichi Sato. "It is no less than we would expect from the commission."


Whatever is a "self awarded scientific survey " ?? So they just do whatever they want ??

Why are they still targetting this species (SBT) if it is critically endangered?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Tuna-fishermen-told-of-albatross-crisis/2007/10/16/1192300733838.html

An international meeting of southern bluefin tuna fishing nations will be told on Tuesday that the annual bycatch of endangered albatrosses is an ecological disaster.

The Humane Society International (HSI) says 10,000 of the 13,500 seabirds estimated to die every year on longline fishing vessels targeting southern bluefin tuna are species of albatross.

The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) is holding its annual meeting in Canberra this week, with countries like Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan attending.

The conservation group has observer status at the meeting.

"HSI hopes to be able to address the commission to deliver a warning that they must clean up their fishing practices or end up being responsible for the extinction of some of these magnificent birds," Ms Beynon said in a statement.

"In the last 10 years they have not been able to agree to any new measures to prevent the capture of seabirds on the longlines most of these countries use to target SBT.

"Among other things, HSI will ask that the commission agrees to weight their lines so that their baited hooks sink quickly out of the reach of seabirds, or to set their lines at night."

Ms Beynon said longline fisheries targeting southern bluefin tuna were also suspected to be killing marine turtles and tens of thousands of sharks. The southern bluefin tuna is classified as a critically endangered species.