Source: https://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2019090400844
Portland, Oregon, Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)--A rift between Japan and South Korea over increases in catch quotas for Pacific bluefin tuna is likely to make it harder to bring the just-started international conference to control stocks of the popular fish for sushi lovers to a successful end, sources with access to the meeting said Wednesday.
Both of the two East Asian countries aim to expand catch quotas through the four-day meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission's Northern Committee, which kicked off in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday.
Talks would have rough going due to not only the U.S. opposition to any increases in tuna catches for now but the discord in Japanese and South Korean proposals for larger quota allocations, the sources said.
Given a recent recovery in Pacific blue fin tuna population, Japan offered to increase the overall catch quota for tuna weighing less than 30 kilograms by 10 pct and that for larger fish by 20 pct. The country also proposed to share the add-on quota for the larger fish, about 1,300 tons, among itself, South Korea and Taiwan.
South Korea, for its part, presented the idea of raising the upper limit for large tuna fishing by 1,650 tons so the country can catch 350 tons more than now and Japan 1,600 tons more.