Australian fisheries will have to cut their take of southern bluefin tuna by 30 per cent, according to a decision agreed on tonight.
But the decision to cut the total allowable catch of the prized southern bluefin tuna by only 20 per cent will concern conservationists and trouble the world's best marine scientists.
The decision was made tonight at the crucial Commission for the Conservation of South Blue Fin Tuna meeting in South Korea.
The commission is made up of countries like Australia, Japan and Taiwan, who fish the prized stock. It decides the total allowable catch and it decides what each country can take each year.
Australia had pushed for a 50 per cent cut of its total allowable catch, but it is believed the motion was subject to significant opposition by other member countries.
It is believed New Zealand effectively lobbied to increase its quota and then sold its increase to Japan.
It is also believed that Japan increased its quota and was not penalised for overfishing the stock over a 20-year period.
Australia tried to do the right thing, but ended up taking the hard decision on its own, with a 30 per cent reduction in quota.
This type of quota horse trading coincides with the release of a scientific report presented to the meeting which revealed the spawning stock had sunk to 5 per cent of the original 1940s levels - a level in fisheries management terms that constitutes an emergency.
Species may not recover
The report is believed to recommend a significant cut in the quotas, otherwise the fish may not recover.
The Commission must reach a consensus and there is no guarantee the quotas will be maintained.
Illegal fishing is rife and many of the high seas areas of the Pacific are unpatrolled and unregulated.
The areas known as high seas are outside the exclusive economic zones.
Only last week, Greenpeace claimed they caught a Japanese registered vessel fishing illegally inside the exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands.
The current state of the southern bluefin tuna is now worse than its northern hemisphere cousin, the northern bluefin tuna.
The European Union is considering whether to ban all trade and export in the northern bluefin tuna and whether to list it as a critically endangered species.
The southern bluefin tuna is Australia's main fishing export.
The cod did disappear in North America and Europe, decimating fishing communities.
The decisions of this meeting are crucial to the long-term future of the southern bluefin tuna.
All eyes will now be on Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, to see whether he lists the fish as an endangered species next April.
