To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he made of the outcome of the November 2009 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas; and what position the Government took on the proposal to list Atlantic bluefin tuna under Appendix 1 to the convention on international trade in endangered species. (312372)

The UK welcomes the outcome of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna's (ICCAT) annual meeting that took place in November 2009, as it signals an improvement in the management of the blue-fin tuna stocks. We are assessing whether the measures agreed at the meeting provide sufficient reassurance that ICCAT can take the necessary steps to implement what was agreed at the meeting, in order to turn around the dramatic decline in the species population. Consequently, we have not yet ruled out the need for a convention on international trade in endangered species (CITES) Appendix I listing, and it certainly remains an option under consideration in the run up to the CITES Conference of Parties meeting in March this year.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2010, Official Report, column 687W, on tuna: conservation, whether he plans to take advice from the (a) International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and (b) UN Food and Agricultural Organisation's Ad Hoc Advisory panel into account in determining the UK's negotiating position; and what information will be sought from ICCAT at the compliance meeting in February 2010. (312732)

The UK has considered the information provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the outcome of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) annual meeting in shaping its negotiating position on blue fin tuna.

The UK will be in attendance at the February meeting of the ICCAT Compliance Committee, and will want to be completely satisfied that the contracting parties operating in the blue-fin tuna fishery can demonstrate that they are able to enforce the new provisions effectively, so as to prevent quotas being exceeded.