Endangered species perish while governments debate trade rules
Perhaps the tiger should replace the panda as the WWF symbol. The global tiger population is in dire shape, according to statements at the CITES meeting; mainly because there is herbal/magical/ mystical/stupid trade in tiger parts in China for traditional medicinal purposes. Ugh. Perhaps measures like increasing criminal surveillance might help. But the powerful and majestic tiger is decreasing in the wild very rapidly. And two things we do: poaching and destruction of wild habitat -- are the main reasons.
According to other reports, Japan is putting on the full-court press against the bluefin tuna ban. They want a "sustainable" harvest, they recognize the danger of overfishing. MY question: if bluefin tuna means so much to them, why don't they accept a temporary ban, let the stocks recover, come up with a real sustainable harvest plan, and then the threat to sushi will be reduced? These people are short-sighted idiots. (In slightly better news, a company in Japan has apparently been able to get bluefin tuna to hatch from eggs, potentially creating hatchery bluefin. Maybe that has a chance... I first want to know the potential numbers of hatchlings that could realistically result from this effort.)
I see quite a bit of agreement with my position here.
Stupid two-thirds vote requirement; if the ban fails by a couple of votes, then the momentum will be severely hurt. This is truly a watershed meeting for the world's wildlife, on land and sea.
More articles:
Lobbying by Japan on bluefin tuna blasted at CITES talks
Up until 2008, when the catch fell by half, annual hauls were 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes.
"If trade is stopped in Doha, all the scientists agree that bluefin tuna can recover," said Sue Lieberman, policy director for the Pew Environment Group in Washington.
"Another two-to-five years of overfishing, and they won't."
Japanese firm breeds sustainable bluefin tuna from eggs
Burimy has teamed up with Japan's Kinki University, which has succeeded in hatching eggs, nurturing baby fish and breeding them into fat adults in what the company says is the world's first complete cultivation cycle.
Burimy first bought 1,500 artificially hatched baby bluefin tuna
from the university's A-marine Kindai laboratory in December 2007 and over the next two years grew them into 1.2-metre (four-foot) adults.
Japan's famous Tsukiji fish market braces for tuna trade ban
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