Japan's Heavy Handed Lobbying Blasted At CITES Talks

Over at Fresh From Qatar, there is a great post on what Japan is doing behind the scenes to counter the ban on bluefin tuna trade. Essentially they are approaching Pacific nations and scaring them into a notion that "they will be next" as well as running around the halls meeting anyone they can like South Korea, Malta etc. I hope the USA commercial bluefin tuna fishermen, Rich Ruais and the Amercian Bluefin Tuna Association is not working with the Japanese delegation. Their tactics need to change and their food culture needs disrupting. This bluefin measure will help this process.

Tags: CITES, Japan, Qatar

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Comment by Thunnus Thynnus on March 15, 2010 at 7:09pm: This is one of the better pieces of reporting on the meeting. Too bad about the self absorption of the EU delegation.

One thing though- we need to be more a bit more aggressive about debunking the myth of 'CITES is bad because it attacks as Japanese food culture'.

1. CITES will not end the use of tuna in Japanese cuisine. Remember that markets for SBFT and other pacific genus will remain open. Likewise, Japan can rely on local fisheries to supply their domestic bluefin requirements. In addition, demand for tuna can be met by other tuna species- including bigeye, yellowfin, and albacore. (The latter is truly delicious!)

2. Traditional Japanese food culture does not include fatty or inexpensive tuna. The former is a post WWII phenomena as American influence (and love of fatty beef) made its way behind the sushi bar. And the latter has only come into vogue in recent times.

So in the end, Japan's claims about food culture and CITES are just false. True, consumers would have to pay more for tuna. But in reality that would probably move Japan's cuisine closer to tradition rather than further away from it.