Monaco picked up Robin des Bois’ idea, but posited defending bluefin tuna exclusively by their addition to Appendix I. This appendix prohibits international trade of listed species but does not encroach on national markets if captures are made inside territorial waters or inside the Exclusive Economic Zones of the relevant countries. This restriction is not trivial since France has no EEZ in the Mediterranean Sea, whereas other countries have, like Spain or Libya.

Everyone jumped on this bandwagon though it could lead nowhere. The inclusion of bluefin tuna in Appendix I has little chance of being accepted at the next plenary session of CITES in Doha, Qatar, next March, since two thirds of the 175 votes are needed. Even if this unlikely result were achieved, states could still formulate reserves and not take it into account. A massive switch of fishing activities towards tuna species that are considered vulnerable to exploitation could lead to commercial extinction within a few years. The latest news is that the inclusion in Appendix I is making headways. In a face-saving attempt, it could be brought up in Doha, submitted for a vote or a consultation, and at the end of this tortuous path, with the provision that it would be implemented within 18 months to 2 years if ICCAT failed to make firm decisions on stocks management and the fight against smuggling during its next two plenary meetings; a true fool’s bargain that would allow some to show firmness and call for victory, while permitting fisheries to continue… fishing bluefin tuna, just as before. One could expect a razzia on bluefin tuna before the potential implementation of such a decision and the industrial freezing rooms would surely be filling up meanwhile.

Appendix II, on the other hand, strictly regulates international trade, reinforces custom controls, enables civil parties to file complaints in case of a blatant infraction, and progressively eliminates international transactions based on illegal captures, which represent more than half of the world’s fish trade. The inclusion of bluefin tuna in Appendix II would stand a chance of being voted in and could be implemented without restriction within 90 days. This would be an important step forward; tuna traders would be caught in the nets of the two complementary international agreements, the ICCAT agreement on stocks management, and the CITES agreement on international trade. This inclusion in Appendix II would not preclude a later addition to Appendix I during the next CITES plenary session.

Robin des Bois is in favour of the Appendix II option. By experience, the French environmental NGO considers that for a market as important as bluefin tuna, and in an area as complex as fishing, only a step by step approach is productive unlike dramatic declarations on supposedly last chance meetings. It requests that the French government and the European Union make realistic and effective decisions in that matter.