Bite Back: Blue Fin Tuna facing extinction

Written by staff reporter Thursday, 29 January 2009 00:00

However, every attempt to introduce tougher controls has been blocked by the southern European fishing nations of Spain, France and Italy, who appear quite happy to turn a deaf ear to the scientific evidence rather than risk the activities of their fishing fleets being curbed in any way. While quotas are routinely ignored, with France being the main culprit, there is also a completely illegal fishery landing thousands of tons a year. EU rules exist to punish member states that exceed their quotas, but the EU Commission simply chooses not to use them.

Such blatant self-interest is not just causing tuna populations to collapse in the Mediterranean – where the spawning grounds are – but is affecting the fishery right across the Atlantic. As tuna populations dwindle, the price goes up, driven by the world’s insatiable appetite for sushi, of which bluefin tuna is a prized ingredient. With as much as £20,000 being paid for a single fish, the potential profits are enormous and no effort is spared, including the use of spotter planes, to find and catch the last remaining schools. Such profits inevitably draw in the criminal underworld: at a previous meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), a white lily, the funeral flower used as a death threat by the Mafia, was left on the table of one of the environmental organisations present.

Based on existing population estimates, there has been a proposal for a maximum quota of 15,000 tonnes a year. But ICCAT, which is based in Spain, has set the quota at almost double that, and there is evidence that even this figure is being completely ignored, with Spanish, Italian and French fishermen landing in the region of 60,000 tonnes a year.

Scientists are now calling for the Mediterranean bluefin fishery to be stopped altogether if there is to be any chance of the species surviving.

ICCAT (rumoured to stand for the International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna) was branded ‘an international disgrace’ by a recent independent EU report and has demonstrated itself to be powerless and corrupt. It is time that the EU fisheries minister, Joe Borg, stepped in to take control of the situation before it is too late. He can be reminded of his responsibilities through This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Up to now, Britain has stood on the sidelines in this fiasco, but it is important that we make our voices heard. I would ask the new minister for fisheries, Huw Irranca-Davies, to press Borg to act quickly. He is best contacted through his website at www.huwirranca-davies.org.uk.

Unfortunately, as one fishery closes, more effort is put into another – a classic example being the Spanish long-lining fleet, which, having been a major factor in the rapid drop in marlin and swordfish numbers in the Atlantic, has then switched over to catching huge numbers of sharks. As shark populations worldwide crash due to the ever-increasing demand from the shark-fin trade, that of the Atlantic blue shark looks set to follow them.

The discovery that Tesco supermarkets in Thailand are selling shark fins has led to demands in the UK for the retailer to live up to its conservationist hype and stop the practice. Tesco’s commitment to ‘meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ doesn’t sit well with selling shark fins, which has been clearly shown to be leading to the rapid disappearance of our oldest marine predator. To its credit, Tesco has approached the Shark Trust for advice on this issue, and I trust that we will see shark fin coming off Tesco’s shelves in Thailand in the very near future. An email to encourage it to move quickly would certainly help. They can be reached through www.tesco.com/help/contact/contactus1.asp