Australia’s tuna industry says there has been an encouraging improvement by Japan in efforts to stop illegal tuna fishing.
Japan has accepted quota cuts after admitting to years of illegal fishing.
The Australian industry’s chief executive, Brian Jeffriess, attended a recent Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna.
He says Japan’s efforts are being recognised but rebounding tuna stocks may not yet be out of trouble.
“There is a general feeling that things have improved but the fact is that you just don’t change overnight something that’s 50 years of culture of fishing on the high seas,” he said.
“Now the stock’s recovering very strongly, the worst thing that could happen was if countries went back to overcatching and illegal catching on the high seas again and that is frankly what worries us most.”
