Japan lobbies for S.Korean vote against tuna trade

Japanese vice farm minister Masahiko Yamada met his South Korean counterpart Ha Young-je in Seoul and asked for support in opposing a ban.

TOKYO, March 15, 2010 (AFP) - Japan on Monday pressed South Korea for support in voting against a proposed ban on trade in bluefin tuna, the staple of sushi restaurants that is at the centre of an international environmental debate.

Japanese vice farm minister Masahiko Yamada met his South Korean counterpart Ha Young-je in Seoul and asked for support in opposing a ban being proposed at an international meeting in Doha.

"South Korea has taken the same position as Japan until now," said a Japanese farm ministry official in Tokyo. "The Tokyo side made sure that Seoul will continue cooperating with Japan on this issue."

The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha until March 25, is gearing up to vote on banning trade in bluefin from the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, a motion that requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

The proposal made by Monaco to list Atlantic bluefin on CITES' Appendix I, a list of endangered creatures, has the support of the United States and the 27-nation European Union.

Tokyo vowed last week to fight the ban, saying it would ignore any such measure voted into place by taking a "reservation".

Japan has argued that tuna fishing should be regulated through quotas, such as those set by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.