Hope for bluefin?

Conservationists have been working for years to protect the imperiled bluefin tuna, and the effort appears to be gaining some steam.

The European Commission is on board with a proposal that would list the species as endangered and prohibit trade of the Atlantic and Mediterranean varieties for two years.

Europe accounts for 27 of the 175 nations around the world that would vote on the proposal. A majority would block trade of the fish internationally.

Decades of overfishing have ravaged the species population, which, according to the International Commission for the Conservation of Tuna, has plummeted 40 percent from the levels found in the 1970s, reported Time.