Sushi-loving Japan fears tuna export ban
Source: Agencies |
January 17, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Japan finds itself with a potentially bigger fight than international pressure to stop whaling with a new row brewing over a highly prized type of tuna that conservation groups say is being fished to extinction.
A proposal to ban the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna -- vaunted for its succulent red and pink meat -- could slash supplies and drive up prices in Japan, the world's biggest consumer and importer of the fish.
Member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, will consider the proposed ban at a meeting in Qatar in March.
Monaco, which proposed the measure, said bluefin species numbers have fallen by nearly 75 percent since 1957 with most of the declines occurring in the past decade and that current measures are not enough to ensure it is fished sustainably.
Talk of banning imports of the species has made some Japanese feel their very way of life is under attack. The fish is often served as sushi, the iconic Japanese dish.
"Any ban is going to have a big impact culturally and economically," said Masaru Nakazawa, a 63-year-old wholesaler at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market.
Bluefin tuna, of which the Atlantic and Pacific are the most common species, is served in upscale sushi restaurants worldwide -- but any export ban would hit Japan hardest.
Japan buys nearly 80 percent of the annual Atlantic bluefin catch. Top-grade sushi with fatty bluefin -- called "o-toro" -- can go for as much as 2,000 yen (US$20) a piece in high-end Tokyo restaurants.
A proposal to ban the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna -- vaunted for its succulent red and pink meat -- could slash supplies and drive up prices in Japan, the world's biggest consumer and importer of the fish.
Member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, will consider the proposed ban at a meeting in Qatar in March.
Monaco, which proposed the measure, said bluefin species numbers have fallen by nearly 75 percent since 1957 with most of the declines occurring in the past decade and that current measures are not enough to ensure it is fished sustainably.
Talk of banning imports of the species has made some Japanese feel their very way of life is under attack. The fish is often served as sushi, the iconic Japanese dish.
"Any ban is going to have a big impact culturally and economically," said Masaru Nakazawa, a 63-year-old wholesaler at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market.
Bluefin tuna, of which the Atlantic and Pacific are the most common species, is served in upscale sushi restaurants worldwide -- but any export ban would hit Japan hardest.
Japan buys nearly 80 percent of the annual Atlantic bluefin catch. Top-grade sushi with fatty bluefin -- called "o-toro" -- can go for as much as 2,000 yen (US$20) a piece in high-end Tokyo restaurants.
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