Bluefin Tuna Quotas Doubled

EU ministers have voted to allow fishing for critically endangered bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic at twice the level which scientists say will lead to the collapse of stocks. Britain and Ireland both registered a protest vote against the decision which the conservation group, WWF, described as a "scandal" which would "undermine the Common Fisheries Policy in the eyes of the world." Ben Bradshaw, the British fisheries minister, said the decision was "not tough enough." He said Britain and Ireland were unhappy that EU rules that require any overfished stock to be paid back in future years were not to be implemented against France and Italy who are estimated to have overfished their quotas by up to 30 per cent in the past two years. These rules, he said, were being implemented against British and Irish fishermen for overfishing mackerel which are not under threat...