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Europe bans bluefin tuna fishing | ||
The move was taken to curb over-fishing and dwindling stocks of fish, after the EU reached its 2007 quota. An EU official said it would move to prevent under-reporting of catches and unequal sharing of the quota. The ban affects Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain. Italy and France have closed their fisheries for 2007. Member states had already reached the 2007 quota of 16,779.5 tonnes, the EU said. "Clearly there are problems both of over-fishing a stock already threatened with collapse and of equity between the member states concerned," said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg. Countries that had not reached their allocation of the quota by the time of the ban would be eligible for future compensation under EU legislation. The endangered fish has been plundered for many years in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with high rates of undeclared over-fishing a key cause of the decline, the EU said. | ||
