Australia drops bid to protect Chilean sea bass
Date: 15-Nov-02
Country: CHILE
Delegates said Australia did not have enough support at the 160-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES) for a motion to limit trade in the fish, which is found in southern oceans. The Australian delegation withdrew the proposal before it was voted on.
But the organization did agree to monitor catches of the fish, which can grow up to 6 feet (2 m) long, in cooperation with the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Species (CCAMLR) body.
"It's a positive step, it helps put international pressure on 160 nations rather than on 24 to participate in the CCAMLR catch documentation scheme," Martin Exel, general manager of Australia's Austral Fisheries told Reuters.
Marine conservationists say the population of the Patagonian toothfish is shrinking fast and it could become commercially extinct by 2007 because of illegal overfishing.
"This is a toothless resolution that in effect sends out a message to the world that catching toothfish is open to pirate fishermen," said Andrea Kavanagh of the National Environment Trust.
U.S. environmentalists have launched a campaign to boycott the product. Top chefs from New York to Seattle have banned the dish from their menus under the slogan "Take a pass on the Chilean sea bass."
