A Canadian environmental group is pleased that an international commission has approved keeping an existing quota for western Atlantic Bluefin tuna. Last year Canada stood alone in asking that the quota be raised by 250 more tonnes, even though the species was under consideration for inclusion on Canada’s own Species at Risk Act.
There was concern the Canadian delegation might repeat the request at this year’s meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in Cape Town, South Africa, but it did not.
This tuna species has fallen to about one third of its 1970 population levels, according to Kathryn Schleit of the Ecology Action Centre, based in the eastern city of Halifax. She hopes the decision to maintain the quota at its current level of 1,750 tonnes or less for the next year might allow the tuna to recover.
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