this country consumes about 70% of the pacific bluefin tuna catch. >> a session of the western and pacific fisheries commission will be held in december in hawaii. a final decision is expected at that time. >>> managing the bluefin tuna industry is in the pacific ocean is a huge challenge given the number of countries that are involved. it's also complicated because most of those countries, such as japan and south korea, are fishing cultures. >> japan is the world's largest consumer of bluefin tuna. it uses about 80% of the world's catch of the fish. demand for bluefin tuna started to rise in the 1970s in parallel with the country's rapid economic growth. now people can buy the fish at supermarkets and low cost sushi bars. japan's annual bluefin tuna consumption reached 43,000 tons in 2008. half of the catch is imported. but concern about tuna overfishing has been growing worldwide. in march, a proposal to ban the international trade of atlantic bluefin tuna was debated at the convention on international trade in endangered species. >> in favor of the proposal as proposed by monaco, 20, ag