after, a prized fish with a steep price: A single bite of Atlantic bluefin tuna can sell for more than $20 in Tokyo sushi restaurants. But that demand has led to overfishing, and environmentalists say the world has an opportunity to save the species at a meeting that started Wednesday in Paris. Representatives from 48 countries worldwide are preparing to set fishing quotas for the Atlantic bluefin, which swims waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean and which conservation group WWF says is “on the brink of extinction.” Environmentalists are pressing for dramatic cuts to the current annual quota of 13,500 metric tons internationally, and some are even demanding a suspension of bluefin fishing entirely at the meeting, which wraps up Nov. 27. Conservationists say fraud and underreporting are rampant in the industry, that the current tracking system is full of holes, and that scientists don't have decent enough data to make an informed recommendation about what the quota should be. The bluefin is the “poster child for mismanagement,” Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, said. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, the body that regulates bluefin fishing and is meeting in Paris, has been largely to blame, she said. “The species, throughout their management, really since the 1960s, continues to plummet,” said Lieberman, who is sitting in on the Paris meetings and wants Atlantic bluefin fishing suspended entirely for now. Sergi Tudela, who heads the fisheries program for WWF Mediterranean, called ICCAT the “laughing stock on the world stage of fisheries management.” ICCAT's chairman, Fabio Hazin, says the commission emerged several years ago from what he calls its “dark ages” – when it would ignore scientists' recommendations as it set fishing quotas. He said this time ICCAT will follow advice from its scientific committee, which suggested a quota of anywhere from 0 to 13,500 metric tons. “The commission might prefer some more precautionary levels, let's say 10,000 tons for example, to allow for possible catches that might not be declared,” he said, adding that even a suspension of fishing was possible.
