"I want people to know that there is no reason to fear tuna prices will spike or that the inventories of tuna will run out," the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries said at a press conference.

Commenting on the decision made Sunday by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to slash the annual bluefin tuna catch limit by some 40 percent in 2010, Akamatsu said, "It's good that we can continue fishing for tuna."

The ICCAT's move to sharply curb tuna fishing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea has raised concerns particularly among Japanese restaurant and shop owners about the future supply of bluefin tuna, popular as sushi and sashimi in Japan.

In October, Monaco proposed a total ban on international trade in Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna to the so-called Washington Convention, hoping that its proposal will be adopted in March when signatory nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora meet in Qatar.

Akamatsu's remark indicated that he thinks Monaco's proposal is unlikely to be adopted.