| I have been monitoring the demise of the (wild) tuna for some time, particularly the bluefin and to a lesser extent the yellowfin kind. It's not good news.
A recent analysis of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna population by the WWF shows that the breeding population of the species will disappear by 2012 if the fisheries continue with business as usual, and urges the immediate cessation of fishing this particular species to stop the impending collapse.
"Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse, and here is the data to prove it. Whichever way you look at it, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna collapse trend is dramatic, it is alarming, and it is happening now." - Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean
You might say, "well, we have the Atlantic and Pacific and we still have fish farming." |
| However farm fishing, unlike aquaculture - where fish are bred and reared in captivity - tuna farming uses live fish captured in the wild (a lot of fish caught for farming are juveniles that will therefore not be able to reproduce in the wild and renew the wild stocks of this already threatened species). The farmed blue-fin are then fattened and exported mainly to Japan for "sushi" production. Check out your local Japanese sushi bar and you will see that bluefin tuna is always available, and at a premium price (another diary is in the works about the practices of fish farming and what it means for us in the long run).
As for the Atlantic & Pacific, the yellowfin tuna is becoming a vastly popular replacement for the severely depleted supplies of the bluefin so expect a short supply in the coming years (read: the not too distant future). Where does all that tuna go? Japan is the world's largest consumer of tuna, and fleets from Japan catch over a quarter of the Pacific tuna taken annually. In addition to farmed fish, Japan consumes more than 80 percent of tuna caught in the Mediterranean. These are facts, not disputed by Japan.
What about a ban on fishing tuna? That has been passed, several times, by both European and North American authorities....but the overfishing continues, unabated.
A scientific panel has recommended a ban on taking Atlantic bluefin tuna, saying suspending the catch is the only way the species can recover. The scientists, associated with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, made the recommendation after a meeting last week in Madrid.
Global tuna stocks have declined since the introduction of industrial-scale fishing in the 1940s. The global catch surged ten times to more than 4 million tons a year between 1950 and 2004 (data from the United Nations shows).
From Greenpeace: Last week, we found no less than four Taiwanese fishing vessels on the high seas in the space of just three days. We took action against two of them. Though this makes it seem as if these vessels and their crews are our adversaries in the fight to save the Pacific tuna stocks and close the four high seas pockets to all fishing, that is not the case. We were not there to try and tell these captains what to do, but rather to give them the information their employers might not be giving him, to appeal to their sense of morality, and to ask them to stop plundering the Pacific.
The latest ban, passed this week in Brazil, has Japan lauding it. But will they respect it? Mmmmmm, not sure about that. Just look at the way they have respected the various bans on whaling by maintaining that it's purely for research (a thinly disguised commercial whaling operation) despite the facts and accompanying data from scientists and environmental organizations.
Japan, the world's largest consumer of bluefin tuna, hailed a 40 percent quota cut agreed in Brazil in the hope that it will preempt a complete trade ban, a fisheries official said Monday. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has agreed to slash the total catch in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea from 22,000 tons this year to 13,500 tons for 2010. Japan has supported a policy on sustaining resources based on scientific data, so we can continue catching the fish sustainably in future," said the official who spoke on a condition of anonymity.
In 2007, the breeding population of the bluefin, which includes fish over four years old and weighing over 35kg, was at 25% of levels in mid-century, and the average size of mature tunas dropped to less than half the size since the 90s.
"For years people have been asking when the collapse of this fishery will happen, and now we have the answer. Mediterranean bluefin tuna is collapsing as we speak and yet the fishery will kick off again for business as usual. It is absurd and inexcusable to consider a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing." - Dr Tudela (Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean)
The dramatic decline in bluefin populations is attributed to various factors: first and foremost, the huge demand in luxury seafood markets (say sushi!), some pirate fishing, use of illegal spotting planes for chasing the tuna, (illegal) fishing during the closed season, and under-reporting of the catches (catches exceeding the legal quota).
There has been a war of words and some action from various environmental factions: for years there has been a campaign to get the endangered bluefin tuna removed from the menus of notable restaurants. Gordon Ramsay and a few others have complied, recognizing that stocks are dangerously low and indeed that certain populations are at risk of extinction due to overfishing. However the vast majority of eateries still peddles tuna, like for example, the Nobu chain which, to this day, offers quantities of the bluefin species.
Last September it was revealed that investigators from Greenpeace, rebuffed when they tried to prove Nobu was selling bluefin, had DNA-tested the fish on the menu and proved that's exactly what it was. The Nobu response: an asterisk by the offending dishes leading to a note at the bottom of the menu pointing out that bluefin is "environmentally challenged" and that diners should ask for an alternative. In short, Nobu has come up with a restaurant version of the Nuremberg defence: if they serve it, it's only because they are following diner's orders. Those with a conscience? Let them eat hake. The rich and conscience-free, meanwhile, can gorge on the soon to be extinct until it's all gone. And would sir like a side order of baby panda with that?
This whole Nobu thing reminds me of the film, "The Freshman" in which some shady guy runs the secretive "Gourmet Club", where endangered animals are used as the main course. Within a few years, some equally stealthy restaurants will probably serve bluefin as well, but for how long?
The End of the Line, is a fantastic film about the near extinct species of our bluefin tuna. Take a look at it. |
