WWF, companies team up to help save bluefin tuna

[November 24, 2010]  PARIS (AP) -- Conservation group WWF teamed up with supermarket chains and restaurants Wednesday to press countries to set stricter fishing regulations for Atlantic bluefin tuna during an international conference in Paris.

WWF says the fish, popular in sushi, is on the brink of collapse.

French supermarket groups Carrefour SA and Auchan, French food services giant Sodexo and British restaurant chains Pret A Manger and Moshi Moshi are among the companies that pledged to stop serving Atlantic bluefin tuna until the situation improves, the conservation group said.

The companies joined WWF in pressing the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, to take "urgent action" to save the fish, which swims in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

ICCAT is expected to set new bluefin fishing quotas during its meeting in Paris, which ends Saturday.

WWF and other conservation groups want the 48 member countries of ICCAT to suspend or dramatically reduce the fishing quotas for the species.

Some fishermen, however, say such a move would lead to job losses and hurt their already suffering business.

[Associated Press]

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