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Lobbied aggressively by Japan, delegates at a UN wildlife trade meeting on Thursday massively rejected a ban on cross-border commerce in Atlantic bluefin tuna, a sushi mainstay.

The controversial proposal was crushed with 68 votes against, 20 in favour and 30 abstentions at a meeting in Doha of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

To pass, the measure needed the support of two-thirds of the nations present.

Industrial-scale harvesting on the high-seas has caused bluefin stocks to plummet by up to 80 percent in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, the two regions that would have been affected by the ban.

Atlantic bluefin tuna: the sushi king

The reason is not hard to find: a single 220-kilo (485-pound) fish can fetch 160,000 dollars (120,000 euros) at auction in Japan, which consumes three-quarters of all the bluefin caught in the world, mainly as sushi and sashimi.

At those prices, the incentive to overfish -- and cheat on poorly enforced quotas -- is overwhelming, say experts.

Japan lobbied fiercely in Doha and elsewhere to block the proposal, put forward by Monaco with the backing of the United States and European Union, announcing before the vote the support of China and South Korea.

"I am happy. We are satisfied with the result," said Masonori Miyahara, the head of Japan's delegation and the country's top fisheries official.

A second EU proposal that would have delayed the Appendix I listing by 18 months was rejected by an even wider margin: 72 "no" votes, 43 "yes" and 24 abstentions. Related article: French tuna fishermen fear for livelihood

Anticipating a possible defeat, Monaco was set to table amendments to its proposal, while Europe -- backed by Norway -- was poised to call for the formation of a working group to hammer out a compromise.

But in a procedural move, Libya short-circuited the debate and called for an up-or-down vote on the original proposition.

"I regret that the debate was cut short, and that I couldn't respond to certain falsehood," said Patrick van Klaveren, head of the Monaco delegation.

The consequences, he said, could be terrible -- and irreversible.

"It will not be CITES that is the ruin of professional (fisheries), it will be Nature that lays down the sanction, and it will be beyond appeal," he said.

Environmental groups and experts slammed the vote.

"The abject failure of governments here to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna spells disaster for its future and sets the species on a pathway to extinction," said Oliver Knowles of Greenpeace International.

Most scientists say bluefin populations in the two zones affected would need at least five years to begin a robust recovery.

"This is very disappointing and very irresponsible," said Sue Lieberman, policy director for the Pew Environment Group in Washington.

"The fate of tuna is now, once again, in the hands of ICCAT," she said, referring to International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the inter-governmental group responsible for managing bluefin stocks.

"This is the very body that drove the species to the disastrous state it is in now" by failing to enforce its own quotas, she added.

Van Kaveren recalled that in 1992, an Atlantic bluefin ban proposed by Sweden was withdrawn from CITES on the strength of promises from ICCAT of stricter oversight.

"The result is that the reproductive capacity has dropped from 200,000 to 60,000 in 20 years, tunas are half as small, and illegal fishing has tripled," he said.

Miyahara -- a former ICCAT president -- acknowledged these shortcomings, but said things could improve.

"We have heavy homework with ICCAT now. We made the commitment to ensure the recovery of the stock with specific measures and restrictions," he told AFP.

Last November, ICCAT agreed to cut its catch for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean regions by 40 percent, from 22,000 tonnes in 2009 to 13,500 in 2010.

AFP