MEXICO – They could threaten Mexican tuna shipments to the Japanese market

The Fisheries Agency of Japan assesses ask local importers to avoid import bluefin tuna native of Mexico, with the aim of pressuring the country to take action against overfishing in the Eastern Pacific.

The Japanese government will decide whether to take the measure depending on what happens at the next meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the Kyodo news agency reported.

The meeting began Monday in the California town of La Jolla, United States, and will end on Wednesday, October 29th.

Japan, which currently is the world's largest consumer of Tuna Fisheries intended to manage this resource effectively, since it is in danger.

The meeting participants discussed a proposal by Japan to reduce by 50% the catches in the eastern Pacific bluefin tuna juveniles under 30 kilograms.

It is unknown if Mexico and other nations accepted this proposal.

If this initiative is not taken, the Fisheries Agency would choose to make the request -in any binding- to large companies from China and other importers to push harder to Mexico case.

According to available data, the Mexican fleet captured in 2012 about 5,280 tonnes of juvenile bluefin tuna in the Pacific, almost half of the global fishery resources in the region and exported most of the catch to the Japanese market.

SOURCE: Fis.com