Japan, the United States and Canada will urge China to follow a recommendation by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna to cut its catch quota of bigeye tuna in the Atlantic Ocean and the number of its long-line tuna boats, the Fisheries Agency said Monday.
The joint request will be conveyed to the Chinese government through the three nations' embassies in Beijing this week, the agency said.
The ICCAT last year recommended China's tuna fishing quota be set at 4,000 tons for 2001, down from 7,300 tons the previous year, and that China freeze the number of its long-line tuna boats at 60, reducing it to 30 in the future.
However, China rejected the recommendation in February on the grounds that the recommended catch quota does not reflect the number of fishing boats it has.
By filing an objection with the 28-member ICCAT, China is able to continue catching tuna in the Atlantic without restriction, as the recommendation is nonbinding.
The request by the three countries indicated the rejection will result in a sharp drop in Atlantic tuna stocks and that it is an abuse of China's authority as an ICCAT member, the agency said.
The Fisheries Agency also expressed concern that China has sharply increased its harvesting of bigeye tuna by flagging ships in a way that they do not come under catch quota restrictions. It is asking importers not to deal tuna caught by such flagged ships, the agency said.