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Scientists Try to Save Bluefin

Fishing practices slammed as 'totally out of control'

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 24, 2007 4:50 PM CST

(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.

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)

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)

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)

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Scientists Try to Save Bluefin

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

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conservation • Atlantic Ocean • tuna • fish • fishing • Gulf of Mexico

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[ By Views ]

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Be a Good American: Eat This Fish

The lionfish may ruin us if you don't!

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New quotas well above sustainable limit

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Politicking produces bad management of big tuna

Fish Stocks Are Fine, So Dig In

Reports of overfished oceans are exaggerated: Aquatics professor

Gulf Cleanup Captain Commits Suicide

Spill taking heavy emotional toll on fishing communities

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Newser By Users

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