(MARRAKESH) - The main Atlantic tuna fishing nations cut the 2009 catch to 22,000 tonnes but were accused Tuesday by conservation groups of driving the fish into extinction.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which brings together 46 major fishing nations ranging from Japan to the United States and Norway, set the figure at a meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other environment groups said.

The WWF said the commission rejected the advice of its own scientists who wanted the 2009 catch drastically cut from 28,500 tonnes in 2008 to a figure between 8,500 and 15,000 tonnes. They also wanted a complete ban on fishing during the reproduction season in May and June, the WWF said.

The commission did not immediately announce the results of its meeting.

"This is not a decision, it is a disgrace which leaves WWF little choice but to look elsewhere to save this fishery from itself," said Sergi Tudela, head of WWF Mediterranean fisheries programme.

Greenpeace called the decision "disastrous and shameful."

WWF, Greenpeace and other groups want a complete moratorium on fishing.

"Any alternative is preferable to an organisation which boasts of its respect for science but where in a decade catches have gone from twice to four times the scientific recommendations, with massive legal and illegal overfishing," said Tudela.

He added: "ICCAT's string of successive failures leaves us little option now but to seek effective remedies through trade measures and extending the boycott of retailers, restaurants, chefs and consumers."

The WWF said that the European Union was the main backer of the new quota, with the support of Japan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria.

Japan had initially followed the United States, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Iceland and Brazil in supporting a limit of 15,000 tonnes, the environment groups said.

The WWF and Greenpeace said that the EU put pressure on smaller nations to back the higher catch quota.

"The European Union, representing the majority of Mediterranean countries with interests in the bluefin tuna fishery, has bullied other parties in the meeting into agreeing to management proposals which completely fail to follow the advice of ICCAT's own scientific body to substantially reduce fishing and protect the species' spawning grounds," Greenpeace said in a statement.

Greenpeace said that action should now be taken under the CITES international convention on saving species threatened with extinction.

The special ICCAT meeting was called to assess the threat to tuna in the Mediterranean basin and propose protection measures.

The European Mediterrean tuna fishermen's association, which says it represents 2,500 professionals in France, Italy and Malta, opposes any moratorium but says it wants tougher checks.

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