November 4, 2003

Possible Extinction of Bluefin Tuna Due to Unregulated Fishing

Bluefin tuna could be commercially extinct in as little as five years, due to unregulated fishing which exploits a loophole in international conservation quotas, as reported by The Scotsman today.

Japan's insatiable appetite for the largest of the tuna species to satisfy the sushi and sashimi restaurant trade is driving a new trend for intensive fishing of the bluefin.

Despite increasing awareness of the impact of modern fisheries, numerous organisations dedicated to preserving fishing stocks, and apparent consumer interest in environmentally sustainable food, the practice is threatening bluefin to being an extinct species.

Unlike aquaculture, where the fish are bred from eggs and reared to maturity in captivity, tuna fish-farming involves catching fish in the wild, transferring them into huge floating cages, and then towing these pens with up to 100 tons of live fish back to shore.

Depending on their size, they are then fattened up for anything between four months to four years before they are slaughtered.

The method is officially considered as a post-harvesting practice, rather than one based on direct capture, and so avoids every regional and international rule set up to manage thew Mediterranean and east Atlantic fisheries.

Dr Paolo Guglielmi, of the conservation group WWF's Mediterranean marine programme, said: "We are in a very dangerous situation and the threat of commercial extinction on the stock has never been so real.

"Recent scientific assessments indicate that unless something is done for the bluefin's recovery, then in the next few years, possibly as few as five, it will be destroyed completely. The spawning biomass, which represents the number of bluefin which have reached sexual maturity, has been estimated to be less than 20% of what it was in the 1970s, and this is exacerbated by the fact that many are caught at a weight of between 5 and 20kg, well before they have reached reproductive age."

Bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus) is the largest of the three tuna species and one of the largest of all fish, reaching a length of three metres and a weight of 650kg. It can live for 20 years, reaching sexual maturity at about eight, and is one of the fastest fish in the sea, with a highest recorded speed of 70.4kph over a 20-second dash, and reported bursts approaching 100kph.

Post-harvesting has drastically increased in the east Atlantic and Mediterranean and, with more than 11,000 tons produced in 2002, the area accounts for more than half of the world's total production, compared with almost nothing five years ago.

This is in addition to the average of 25,000 tons caught legitimately under quota in the area each year. More than 90% of this post-harvested tuna then goes to Japan. In 1994, the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) recommended a 25% reduction in bluefin catches in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Compared to 1994, recent catches are higher, without consideration of the post-harvesting industry, and the Atlantic bluefin population is considered one of the most severely over-fished in the world.

The fatty part of a tuna's stomach is called toro in Japanese, with O-toro, similar to a fillet of tenderloin beef, considered the most prized cut. Within the O-toro, there is also a small part called the sunazuri, the texture of which is marbled with faint streaks of fat. This whole process symbolises the Japanese concept of kata, or the notion of the ideal form, which consumers are willing to afford. In 2001, a 4,44llb bluefin sold for a record $173,600 (102,352 sterling pound) at Tokyo's main fish market to be used in the preparation of this most esteemed component of sushi.

Jose Luis Garcia, who oversees WWF's Mediterranean programme, said: "[Post-harvesting] is a new practice which has grown faster than any laws or controlling measures which it needs. This fattened tuna is being sold as an aquaculture product, and that means there is absolutely no control over it when it leaves the cages, and it totally avoids the quota set by the European Union and ICCAT.

"This is absurd because it is patently not aquaculture, as they are not rearing from eggs, and there is no acknowledgement that the tuna is caught in the wild."

WWF will present a petition to the EU sometime in November at an international conference in Venice, calling for stringent measures to be imposed to reduce the pressure on the bluefin, while actions could still be done in time before its probable extinction.