Protecting Pacific Bluefin Tuna

The Pacific bluefin tuna population has fallen to just 2.6% of its population before large-scale commercial fishing started.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/11
By: The Japan Times

Stocks of Pacific bluefin tuna, which this nation (Japan) consumes in large quantities — equivalent to 80% of the world’s total catch — are now critically low and no optimism is warranted for their recovery. The Fisheries Agency is introducing a new system to control catches, but it needs to make serious efforts to ensure that its steps will be effective in restoring Pacific bluefin stocks. The agency will face severe criticism not only from domestic fishermen but also from the international community concerned with conservation of the species if the new steps fail to bring about tangible results.

In 2014, the International Union of Conservation of Nature put the Pacific bluefin tuna on its list of threatened species, warning that its population has declined between 19 and 33% over the past 22 years and that the condition of the stock is unlikely to improve since the number of new fish added to the fishable population each year, a process known as “recruitment,” is low. The annual catch has declined to as low as 15,000 tons from its 1981 peak of 35,000 tons in the Pacific Ocean.     [FULL  STORY]