Southern Bluefin Tuna To Stay Off Endangered Listff

The Tasmanian Government has rejected the advice of its own Scientific Advisory Committee and refused to declare the southern bluefin tuna endangered.

Humane Society International nominated the fish for listing because of a dramatic decline in tuna stocks over the past 25 years.

The threatened species Scientific Advisory Committee recommended the nomination be accepted but a Government spokesman says southern bluefin tuna is already well managed in Tasmanian waters.

The head of the committee, Roy Swain, says listing would have been largely symbolic because most of the threats to tuna occur in Commonwealth or international waters.

“Our brief is only to look at scientific criteria on species that are listed in Tasmania and on those grounds we had no hesitation,” he said.

“We were well aware that this then created some difficulty for the Minister, but his job is then to look at other grounds - economic grounds, social grounds, everything else.”