Bluefin Tuna Trade Ban Falls Through

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This is a damn shame:

An unprecedented effort to use world trade rules to save a species from rampant overfishing has failed. A proposal to ban international trade in bluefin tuna under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was defeated today at a meeting of the 175 nations that belong to the treaty in Doha, Qatar.... A CITES trade ban on the fish would have massively reduced fishing for the mighty bluefin: 80 per cent of the catch is imported by Japan for luxury dishes of sushi and sashimi. (Most common tuna sushi, or maguro, is made of other, less threatened species).

This may be the end of bluefin tuna. For background on the threats to the species, see Peter Smith's recent column. And to help in the 11th hour, contact Oceana.