Bluefin tuna ban opposed by island fishermen

Tuna fishermen gathered in Charlottetown Thursday to plan for the season ahead, but talk around the table focused on a possible worldwide ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna, slated to be discussed at a UN meeting next month.

Canada and 174 other countries will be asked to support the ban at the world conference of the Convention of the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Qatar's capital of Doha from March 13-15.

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Canada will be voting against the ban, said federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.

"We feel that we do an excellent job of managing this [fishery]. It's a very important fishery to Atlantic Canada, so we'll be encouraging other countries to not support this ban as well," she said.

Conservation groups contend overfishing in European waters is to blame for the declining populations.

Canadians catch tuna one by one, using rod and reel, while Europeans use nets to round up hundreds at a time, said Gretchen Fitzgerald of the Sierra Club.

"I think in the case of a Canadian fishery with low bicatch, that isn't having the severe declines that they've seen in the eastern side. I think that type of fishery actually should be promoted," she said.

P.E.I.'s commercial tuna quota is the largest in the Maritimes, with 286 licensed fishermen taking 138 metric tonnes each year.