A meeting of an advisory panel of independent fisheries experts have failed to reach a consensus on a proposal to suspend international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna.
However, a majority of the panel agreed that the available evidence supports the proposed listing of Atlantic bluefin on CITES Appendix II, which would restrict international trade of the species.
The panel, convened by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, met last week to determine recommendations regarding six proposals to limit international trade of commercially exploited fish under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
The panel determined that sufficient evidence does exist to warrant placing whitetip shark, porbeagle and scalloped hammerhead shark on CITES Appendix II. For spiny dogfish and all species of the coral family Coralliidae, the criteria required for listing the species on Appendix II was not met, although there is cause for serious concern, argued the panel.
The panel’s full report will be available within the next month on the FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Web site.
