Mankind’s taste for tuna has pushed the majority of the fish species to the brink of endangerment, according to a group of international environmentalists.

 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed five of the eight species of tuna as threatened or near threatened, due to dwindling numbers of the fish. The five are: Southern Bluefin (critically endangered); Atlantic Bluefin (endangered); Bigeye (vulnerable); Yellowfin (near threatened); and Albacore (near threatened).

 

IUCN officials say all three bluefin tuna species are susceptible to collapse if countries continue to overfish them.

 

“The Southern Bluefin has already essentially crashed, with little hope of recovery,” said Dr. Kent Carpenter, professor at Old Dominion University and manager of IUCN’s Marine Biodiversity Unit. “If no changes are made to current fishing practices, the western Atlantic Bluefin stocks are at risk of collapse as they are showing little sign that the population is rebuilding following a significant reduction in the 1970s.”

 

IUCN’s announcement followed news from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which authorized the highest limits allowable under international law for American fishermen to catch Atlantic bluefin tuna, a species “ravaged by overfishing.” The decision by the fisheries service seemed at odds with its designation in June of the bluefin tuna as a “species of concern” because of excessive fishing and the health of the Gulf of Mexico, where the fish spawn.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Increased Protection Urgently Needed for Tunas (IUCN)

Feds Set High Fishing Quotas for Already Overfished Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Envirolib)