Word: tuna
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...neither is Japan. In part, the Japanese may be protecting their right to whale as a stand-in for a separate issue they actually care about: fishing for bluefin tuna, which is popular in sushi. The Japanese eat an estimated 80% of the world's catch of the species, which many scientists believe is in danger of being fished out of existence. If Japan holds the line on whaling, the argument goes, it would send a signal that limits on bluefin tuna aren't up for debate either...
...decision to support the ban should go a long way at the CITES meeting, but it doesn't ensure that the tuna will be protected under Appendix I. Any decision at CITES requires the vote of at least two-thirds of the represented countries, and while the European Union has voiced its support for the bluefin tuna, Japan remains very much against a trade ban. In the past - especially during the ongoing debate over commercial whaling - Tokyo hasn't been shy about using its generous foreign aid budget to leverage support from smaller countries. (See the top 10 most dangerous...
Even if the ban goes into effect, Japan or any other country has the option of taking a "reservation" that would allow it to effectively continue trading the tuna - but they would still need a fishing country from which to buy. "The U.S. won't do that," says Lieberman. "The E.U. won't do that. And we believe they'll exert sufficient pressure on the North African nations to ensure that they won't either...
...White House's decision wasn't an easy one, politically. The tuna ban is strongly opposed by many U.S. commercial fishermen, who worry that a prohibition of global trade in one of the most valuable species in the ocean would inevitably damage the industry. Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine blasted the announcement, calling it a "reckless decision that will ultimately prove ineffectual and cause disproportionate harm to the U.S. bluefin tuna industry." And many fishermen doubt that the tuna is really threatened with extinction. (Watch TIME's video "The Trouble with Tuna...
...number of international scientific agencies have found evidence that the tuna is truly endangered, most recently the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which announced support for trade limitations in December. If the tuna is finally listed, it would represent a watershed moment in endangered-species protection. It's one thing to halt the hunting of relatively rare species like the rhino or the elephant. It's another to ban the trade of a major staple of sushi restaurants - especially as a cuisine that was once limited to Japanese workers has become a global favorite. A ban on the bluefin tuna...