World: Talks start to save Indian Ocean’s tuna

Representatives of 30 nations were yesterday to meet to seek ways to save fast-depleting tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean as demand in Asia and the West soars for sushi and canned fish. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), which groups coastal countries from Australia to Kenya plus major fishing region the EU, was convening virtually over five days to debate yellowfin tuna quotas. Environmentalists have said the warm-water species is at risk of depletion as overfishing compounds other threats from climate change and pollution. There is corporate concern, too: British supermarkets Tesco and Co-op, and Belgian retailer Colruyt last year pledged to stop buying Indian Ocean yellowfin unless the UN-mandated commission adopts a plan to rebuild stocks. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has for nearly a decade had the species on its “red list.” Yet the total global catch has risen by about one-third, to nearly 450,000 tonnes annually, according to the London-based Blue ...