Australia bans Japanese vessels from catching blue fin tuna

Australia has banned Japanese vessels from catching southern blue-fin tuna in its waters.

The move follows the breakdown of talks between the two countries and New Zealand in Sydney.

Australia, concerned that the species is threatened with extinction, wanted quotas reduced.

Delegates from Japan, where the fish is an expensive delicacy, wanted them increased.

Japanese vessels take more than half the twelve-thousand tonnes of blue-fin tuna caught each year, and most of what is caught by Australian vessels goes to Japan.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service