HALL CALLS FOR A TOTAL BAN ON TRADE IN BLUE FIN TUNA

12.00.00am GMT Tue 16th Feb 2010

North East MEP Fiona Hall has called for a total ban on the trade in blue fin tuna.

The huge Mediterranean fish, beloved of Japanese sushi eaters, is the most expensive food in the world. Individual fish can sell for more than £10,000.

WWF, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, claims that stocks of blue fin tuna have collapsed and that the fish will become extinct if controls are not introduced urgently.

Organised crime is also said to be involved in the lucrative business, flouting all EU controls on the fishery.

Liberal Democrat MEP Fiona Hall said that unless trade was halted there would be no blue fin tuna left.

"It is time to protect this critically endangered fish before it disappears from our seas. I urge the UK Government to support a total ban on the trade of blue fin tuna."

Ministers of EU member states must now agree a European position to take at the next meeting of CITES (the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) that takes place next month.