Contact: Gordon Helm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8/21/97The United States is prohibiting all imports of Atlantic bluefin tuna caught by vessels from Panama, Honduras and Belize because the fishing activities of the three countries are undermining international efforts to manage and conserve the species, officials of the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service said today.
This is the first time that the United States has implemented internationally agreed sanctions against countries found to violate conservation rules of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The U.S. action will ban bluefin imports from these three countries. All 24 ICCAT-member countries agree to the ICCAT recommendations and are expected to implement restrictions of their own.
While no Atlantic bluefin tuna are currently imported into the United States from these countries, a formal prohibition against such imports was necessary to close the potential market and to support the anticipated actions of other ICCAT member countries such as Japan. Japan imports about 90 percent of the world's bluefin tuna harvest.
According to ICCAT members, Panama, Honduras and Belize have repeatedly ignored efforts to cooperate with ICCAT bluefin tuna conservation and management measures. In 1995, the three countries were notified by ICCAT that failure to rectify the fishing activities of their vessels could result in the imposition of trade restrictive measures. At its 1996 meeting ICCAT reviewed additional trade data, vessel-sighting information, and port inspection information that indicated that vessels of Belize, Honduras and Panama continued to fish for bluefin tuna, and ICCAT again determined that these fishing activities were undermining ICCAT conservation efforts.
In order to conserve and manage North Atlantic bluefin tuna, ICCAT adopted two recommendations at its 1996 meeting requiring its members to take appropriate measures to prohibit the importation of Atlantic bluefin tuna and its products in any form harvested by vessels from Belize, Honduras and Panama. The U.S. action against Belize and Honduras takes effect immediately. However, ICCAT determined that the import prohibition against Panama would be delayed until Jan. 1, 1998, to allow Panama to present evidence that it has brought its fishing practices for Atlantic bluefin tuna into consistency with ICCAT conservation and management measures. The delay in implementation of trade restrictions for Panama recognizes Panama's expressed intent to rectify the improper fishing activities of its vessels.
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