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Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 22:37:29 PM PDT
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Here's a heartbreaking article about overfishing of bluefin tuna. These magnificent fish can reach up to 1400 lbs and 15 feet and they can swim as fast as 60 mph.
Purse seine ships, which close drawstring nets around schooling fish, became larger and more sophisticated, and fattening cages dotted the seas starting in 1996.
These cages, which can measure 50m (165ft) across, may represent the biggest threat to bluefin survival.
Tuna, often juvenile, are captured and dumped in the cages - or "ranches" - for months to fatten up, with all the associated problems of aquaculture: disease, waste and overfishing of the smaller fish used to feed the bluefin.
Fishing for giant bluefin has become hugely profitable.
In the 1960s, its meat sold in the US for seven cents a pound. This season, the first bluefin sold in Taiwan netted $105 a pound.
Depressing, yes? Well, I read an excellent article about sustainable tuna in the latest Edible San Diego and it applies to tuna lovers nationwide (which includes my cats, who are getting a treat tomorrow now that I know which tuna to buy!). Details below. |
| Jill Richardson :: How To Buy Good Tuna |
What do you get when you buy a normal can of tuna?
- Potentially dangerous levels of mercury
- Tuna is mixed with soy products, vegetable broth, pyrophosphate, salt, water, and oil
- From countries with less rigid regulations than the U.S. (Chicken of the Sea is now a Thai company)
- Might be illegally caught
Your alternative? American Tuna with a MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certification, available at Whole Foods
- Fished sustainably with a fishing pole
- Large fish are thrown back due to too much mercury
- Small fish are thrown back to reproduce for a few more years
- Cooked in its own juices and nothing else
- Extra high omega 3 because it is caught in cold water when it has the most body fat
- Caught legally, as it can be traced back to the boat that caught it
In 2003, 10 families in San Diego formed the American Albacore Fishing Association. In the years since the group grew significantly and became MSC certified as sustainable. They are one of only 31 fisheries worldwide to achieve certification, and the only certified tuna.
Read the article for yourself here: A-FISH-IONADOS (PDF) |
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