Japan to propose 50% cut in young tuna catch: Officials
 
 Japan plans to propose a 50 per cent cut on catches of 
young bluefin tuna in the Western and Central Pacific, 
officials said on Tuesday 26 of August 2014, in a historic 
shift aimed at safeguarding the at-risk species.

Tokyo - the world's biggest consumer of tuna - has been 
reluctant to reduce catches, despite mounting scientific 
evidence that stocks are near collapse.

But in what it called "an epochal move towards more 
thorough regulation", Japan plans to propose during an 
upcoming regional fisheries conference that the amount of 
young fish that can be caught is slashed to half the 2002-
2004 average.

Japan said it would propose members of the Western and 
Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopt a 10-
year recovery plan for Pacific bluefin tuna, beginning in 
2015.

The plan would see the amount of young tuna - defined as 
those weighing less than 30kg - that Japan is able to catch 
cut to around 4,000 tons a year.