Bluefin tuna will go extinct in less than a few years

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animalguy888
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Bluefin tuna will go extinct in less than a few years

Post by animalguy888 »

Bluefin tuna certainly faces severe existential threats. That much is no longer in doubt. Sure, Pacific bluefins are not officially endangered -- but Southern and Atlantic ones are. Indeed, bluefin experts are quickly shifting their conversation away from the question of whether or not the species are endangered to the more difficult one of what to do in light of the fact that they are.

That means different things to different people.

If a recent report in Fast Company is to be believed, Mitsubushi executives had a plan to seize on the impending collapse of tuna stocks for their own profit. They were buying up tons of tuna and putting the meat in deep freeze, at -60 degrees celsius, in hopes of jacking up the price after bluefins went extinct. Sounds pretty nefarious, and potentially effective. But the plan was apparently foiled by the earthquake. Mitsubushi's refrigerators lost power after Japan was hit by a huge tsunami, ruining the tuna steaks and dashing the company's hopes of cornering the tuna market.

Overall, Fast Company called the loss a gain for bluefin tuna's chances of survival, because a major buyer will have less incentive to buy meat in excess of demand. But if it was a gain, it was a far less significant one than the news that a fish farm had successfully bred bluefin in captivity after years of trying. The success was modest, but Umami fish, the company that spawned the tuna, in a Croatian farm, hopes it will be able to use its technique to develop full-fledged sustainable bluefin tuna farms. Farmed isn't quite as good as wild -- but it's also better than dead.

UPDATE: Commenter SimonBao makes the excellent point that the best way to avert collapse of tuna stocks would be a massive international halt on bluefin tuna fishing. He's right. The issue with a ban is one of political viability. On several occasions, nations have proposed bans on bluefin tuna fishing; the Obama Administration have even voiced its support of a ban on Atlantic bluefin fishing. But decisive action has stalled every time a proposal has come up. Moreover, Japanese fishermen and sushi eaters have demonstrated their willingness to flout international fishing restrictions before -- and they have said that they will not comply with a ban on bluefin tuna fishing.
Recently, limits on international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna were rejected despite
overwhelming evidence that the fish met the criteria for protection under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (“CITES”). At the 15th
Conference of the Parties (“COP15”) of CITES (Doha, 13-25 March 2010), the Principality of
Monaco proposed to include Atlantic bluefin tuna in Appendix I, which is the most protective
classification and prohibits international trade in species considered most in danger of extinction.
To its credit, the U.S. government supported this proposal, noting that the species met the
biological criteria for listing under Appendix I and that the U.S. “continues to have serious
concerns about the ability of ICCAT and its members to fully implement their commitments to
strengthen compliance and bring catches in line with scientific advice.”6 Unfortunately, short-sighted commercial interests prevailed over scientific reality during the recent Conference of the
Parties in Doha, Qatar, and the listing proposal was voted down.
In preparation for COP15, both ICCAT and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (“FAO”) convened panels to evaluate whether the Atlantic bluefin tuna met
CITES listing criteria. In brief, a species is to be considered for listing under Appendix I if one of
the following criteria is met: (1) the wild population is small, and is characterized by another
size-related factor making it vulnerable; (2) the wild population has a restricted area of
distribution, and is characterized by another habitat-related factor making it vulnerable; and (3) a
marked decline in the population size in the wild observed as ongoing or having occurred in the
past or a decline is inferred or projected. For Atlantic bluefin tuna, the majority of discussion
focused on the third criterion, with respect to the ongoing marked decline in population size. The
findings of the ICCAT SCRS and the FAO panel are discussed below, along with the U.S.
negotiating position at CITES.

sources
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/specie ... 242010.pdf
http://forcechange.com/17668/save-the-b ... xtinction/
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