ROME (Reuters) - Some of Europe’s biggest retailers are urging the European Union to halve the amount of bluefin tuna allowed to be taken from the sea, saying the prized sushi fish could soon become extinct in the Mediterranean.
Chains including Germany’s Metro, France’s Auchan, Dutch Albert Heijn, and Asda, Wal-Mart’s British unit, have signed a letter calling for a drastic reduction in EU tuna quotas, green group WWF said on Friday.
Weeks before the start of the tuna hunting season, WWF said the firms’ support might help push the European Commission to unilaterally halve the quota it was allocated at international level which, it says, does not guarantee the species’ survival.
In a letter to the Commission, the companies said they were “deeply alarmed at the tragedy about to unfold in the Mediterranean” if EU fleets were allowed to catch the 17,000 tonnes of tuna permitted at present.
The retailers said they agreed with WWF’s assessment that the quota set last November by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was far too high.
“As a consequence, it seems highly likely that the magnificent bluefin tuna, the fish behind the finest sushi in the world, will disappear from the Mediterranean,” said the letter.
Scientists advising ICCAT had recommended a 50 percent cut in the total tuna catch, but the body instead accepted a much weaker plan. WWF, formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, at the time blamed the EU for resisting larger cuts.
The retailers said it would be “amoral and irresponsible” not to slash the quota.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.