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December 2, 2008 12:01:00 PM CST

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Scientists Try to Save Bluefin

Posted Dec 24, 07 4:50 PM CST in Science & Health 

(Newser) – Bluefin tuna can grow to three-quarters of a ton, traverse the Atlantic in less than a month, and are growing rapidly extinct—thanks to fishing practices that are "totally out of control," one US official said. Marine biologists who track Bluefin populations are finding their suggestions rejected by world governments. “We know enough to save this species,” one conservationist said. “We don’t have the will.”

Scientists have jacked up pressure since learning that Atlantic bluefin come in two species, making each group smaller and more endangered. Yet officials set fishing quotas at nearly double scientists' suggestions, and fishermen top them by 50%—little wonder when the fish can fetch more than $170,000 per fish, the Washington Post reports.

Source Washington Post

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Zadar, CROATIA: A diver helps fishermen to catch tuna fish at bluefin tuna farm around mid Adriatic Croatian town of Zadar, 21 February 2007, before transporting them to Japan. (AFP PHOTO/Stringer)   (Getty Images)
Fishermen unload a bluefin tuna in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Andrew Vaughan, The Canadian Press)   (Associated Press)
Hand-out picture taken by environmental activist group Greenpeace of a tuna transport floating tank being towed from the fishing grounds off Libya to tuna ranches off Sicily, Italy. (AFP PHOTO /Greenpeace/Gavin...   (Getty Images)
This file photo shows a tuna transport floating tank being towed from the fishing grounds off Libya to tuna ranches off Sicily, Italy. (AFP PHOTO /Greenpeace/Gavin Newman)   (Getty Images)
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fish • conservation • fishing • Gulf of Mexico • Atlantic Ocean • tuna


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