It was reported this week that a bluefin tuna just fetched a record-breaking 16.28 million yen ($175,000) at the Tokyo fish market. This is a frightening illustration of the risk faced by global bluefin tuna populations. There’s a belief out there by some that a fish species will become economically extinct, meaning costs to catch it become too high and demand collapses, before it becomes ecologically extinct. Well, this certainly doesn’t seem to apply to bluefin tuna. There looks to be interest in hunting this spectacular species – which can swim almost 45 miles per hour and weigh up to 1,500 pounds -- right into extinction.
Atlantic bluefin tuna are a case in point. According to scientists for the international body that manages it, Atlantic bluefin tuna populations are at no more than 15 percent of their historic baseline. Moreover, there is good reason to believe that even this assessment is far too rosy. Soon-to-be published studies are expected to show current levels of fishing will lead to the extinction of the western population of Atlantic bluefin within 10 years and that the decline in the eastern population between 2005 and 2011 may reach 75%.
What can we do to save Atlantic bluefin? Monaco has proposed to list Atlantic bluefin tuna in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The U.S. needs to support Monaco’s pending listing proposal vigorously. Also, the U.S. needs to abandon its proposal to loosen restrictions on Atlantic bluefin catch in U.S. waters (the fish has become so rare that fishermen have been unable to catch the full quota assigned to them under international treaty). Finally, we need to stop catching Atlantic bluefin in their spawning area in the Gulf of Mexico, the only known spawning site this side of the Atlantic.
* * * This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard.
Brad Sewell serves as Senior Attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. NRDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the environment, people and animals. NRDC was founded in 1970 and is comprised of more than 300 lawyers, scientists and policy experts, with more than one million members and e-activists.
