Britain steamed over tuna rules

Britain's fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw is calling on the European Union to ban fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.

Bradshaw said the failure of European ministers to agree to conservation plans for the endangered bluefin tuna and European eel "seriously damages the credibility of the EU on environmental issues," The London Telegraph said Wednesday.

He said the European Commission fails to apply the Common Fisheries Policy's rules evenly, enforcing the rules for British fishermen but letting many French and Spanish tuna fleets go on fishing.

The newspaper said French fishermen allegedly exceeded their bluefin tuna quota by 30 percent last year.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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