fishing ban

The environment advocacy group, the Pew Charitable Trusts, said independent surveys show fishing has depleted bluefin stocks to just 2.7 percent of the levels that existed before the advent of commercial fishing.

The director of Pew's global tuna conservation campaign, Amanda Nickson, said little has been done by key agencies such as the Tuna Commission and governments and this mean a two year moratorium on commercial fishing was needed.

She said under such a scheme blue fin numbers could bounce back quite quickly and the fishing nations need to take action.

The Government of the Nauru issued the ban on transshipping in its waters outside its port, and is calling on other Pacific Island Nations to do the same. A regular industry practice that is largely unmonitored, transshipping involves fishing vessels - longliners - transferring their catch to ‘motherships’ to be taken and sold in far-away markets. This means that boats can stay out at sea for years, evading checks on their fishing practices and licenses, and the treatment of their crew.