DOHA, Qatar - A contentious battle between Asia and the West over the fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna prized by sushi lovers overshadowed a United Nations conference that opened Saturday.
The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, was discussing new proposals on regulating the trade in number of plant and animal species, including an all-out ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin that has been particularly opposed by seafood-mad Japan.
Raw tuna is a key ingredient in traditional dishes such as sushi and sashimi, and the bluefin variety - called "hon-maguro" in Japan - is particularly prized.
But global stocks of bluefin are dwindling, especially in the Atlantic, and governments around the world are increasingly supporting a complete trade ban to let the fish recover. About 80 percent of the species ends up in Japan.
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CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers told The Associated Press this week that support for the ban was growing and was hopeful the ban would be approved doing the two-week meeting.
"There is no scientific argument against that," said Wijnstekers, whose organization has come out in support of the export ban.
There are 42 proposals on the table at the conference, addressing issues from elephant poaching for ivory in Africa to banning trade in polar bear skins. Those focusing on sharks and tuna are likely to be among the most contentious.
They pit the Europeans and Americans against fishing nations in North Africa and Asia, especially Japan, which has already vowed to ignore any bluefin ban.
Monaco - the sponsor of the proposed ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna - says numbers have fallen by nearly 75 percent since 1957. But most of the decline has occurred over the last decade with demand driven by sushi lovers in Japan and elsewhere.
