Already in fierce conflict with foreign governments and conservationists over its whaling policy, fishmongers protests yesterday in Japan could foreshadow emerging new hostilities over bluefin tuna.

Tuna brokers at the famous Tsukiji wholesale market chanted slogans and signed a petition opposing a proposal to list the Atlantic bluefin as an endangered species that is expected to be agreed upon at the upcoming CITES.

Japan consumes 80 per cent of the world’s tuna, cooked and served raw as sushi and sashimi. Most of the tuna consumed in Japan comes from sources other than the Atlantic, so a ban will not take sushi off the menu immediately. But it will add to anxiety about the long term future of one of the defining dishes of Japanese cuisine.

“We want to protect Japanese food culture and to prevent tuna from disappearing as a food source,” said Tadao Ban, the head of the Wholesalers Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market.

“For this reason we are promoting strict resource management — we are even supporting putting a tag on each and every tuna caught.

The government recognises the problem, and has accepted large cuts in quotas for the annual catch. But Japan has made it clear that, if the ban goes through it will take a “reservation” – meaning that it would be entitled to go on trading in Atlantic tuna with other nations who similarly opted out.

A report by WWF detailed the damage that has been done to tuna populations as a result of the fishing industry: “If the current level of fishing continues or increases, then, sooner rather than later, tuna stocks will collapse”

The 27 EU member states are the latest to confirm that they will vote in favour of the proposal. Conservationists have long campaigned for an end to the tuna fishing industry, as not only does it harm tuna numbers directly, through the process known as bycatch, where other fish and birds are caught in netting, many other species are harmed as well.

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