Rotten fish symbolises policy disgust

Ecologist group Greenpeace has delivered a strong message to the French Agriculture and Fisheries ministry: ‘Your management stinks.’ The medium of the message was five tonnes of rotting bluefin tuna heads dumped outside the ministry building in Paris.

Greenpeace was condemning the direction of European Union fisheries policy by current EU President France. The delivery coincided with the opening of the one-week annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in Marrakech, Morocco. Tuna resources in the Atlantic and Mediterranean are regulated by the body made up of government representation from 45 countries and the EU. ICCAT wants to knit together a plan that protects the overfished species without gutting the multi-million euro industry built around it. But critics say the political will to enforce quotas and other rules is weak. The environmental lobby is demanding a moratorium on catching bluefin tuna until marine reserves are created to protect spawning grounds, and fishing at sustainable rates is guaranteed.

Copyright © 2009 euronews

tags: Demonstration, Environment, European Union