Taipei - Taiwan on Saturday opposed a proposed international ban on fishing the endangered bluefin tuna, saying setting individual country quotas was a better way to protect the fish. Tsai Jih-yao, vice director of the Fisheries Administration, said he hoped the fishing of bluefin will continue to be controlled by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
Tsai said there are no Taiwan fishing trawlers catching fluefin tuna in the West Atlantic because the quota for Taiwan is too small - only 60 tons per year - and Taiwan has warned its fishermen not to go there.
The quota for Japan, the world's top consumer of bluefin tuna, is several thousands tons per year.
Taiwan's Tungkang Fishery Association also protested the proposed ban on bluefin tuna fishing.
Lin Han-chou, secretary-general of the association, said banning or cutting the catch of bluefin tuna will severely hurt the livelihood of fishermen at Tungkang, one of the main bases of Taiwan''s ocean-going fishing trawlers.
"Tungkang trawlers catch between 200-300 fluefin tunas each year, accounting for one-sixth of Tungkang fishermen's income," he told CNA.
The European principality of Monaco has lobbied the 175 CITES members to agree on a global ban on Atlantic bluefin exports at a meeting in Qatar's capital Dohas in March.
Japan objected to the ban while France demanded a delayed imposition of the ban.
Atlantic bluefin can grow to three metres long and weigh over 650 kilogrammes, fetching 2,000 yen (20 US dollars) per slice in a Japanese restaurant where people like to eat it raw, dipped in a soy sauce mixed with mustard.
The CITES has warned that Atlantic bluefin tuna population has declined over 80 per cent since the 19th century, and environmentalists are seeking tighter control on catching Atlantic bluefin tuna, to save it from extinction.
