Eat Your Sushi Now, Tuna Will Be Wiped Out By 2012


Tunas at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Photo: Fisherman (Wikipedia)

Psst! Love your tuna sashimi? Well, eat up because they may not be around much longer. The World Wildlife Fund has a dire report saying that unless current fishing practices are changed, tunas will be wiped out by 2012:

The population can only be saved by a complete halt to fishing in May and June, when the fish swim to the Mediterranean to spawn, the WWF says. The call comes as the two month tuna fishing season begins.

'Bluefin tuna is collapsing as we speak and yet the fishery will kick off for business as usual,' said Sergi Tudela, of WWF. 'It is absurd and inexcusable to open a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing.'

Link


I fail to see the relevance of singling out the Japanese as "ostriches." Sushi in its various forms has been consumed in Japan for hundreds of years. The ICCAT, International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, is the organization that supposedly deals with the issues of bluefin tuna fishing, especially in the Mediteranean. This organization (participating nations include the US, Canada, Japan, and other European nations) has refused to outright stop fishing, instead recommending a harvest weight per season that is still much higher than what experts advise. And that still hasn't stopped all the illegal harvesting and overfishing of bluefin tuna in all its forms.

Money talks.
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Good thing the Japanese are doing all that whaling "research". I'm sure with that vast knowledge base of science, there's a answer to this problem (like do more "research" wink wink nudge nudge).
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If it is truly as bad as they say, the large fishing corporations will not want to blindly fish their way out of business. In the USA, some of the best conservationists are the hunters.

However I do not see anything wrong with reasonable restrictions on fishing, as long as there is adequate protection from illegal fishing. It does no good to tell the good guys to stop fishing so the bad ones can get the profit.

It also doesn't do any good to go overboard (no pun intended) to completely ban fishing for so long a period. Much of the US has way too many deer from hunting restrictions.
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sorry dogrun but i fear you're wrong.

the fisherman will go out in competition to get as many fish as possible to earn as much money for their crew as possible. the companies will not fish their way out of business. it is the market who will eat their way out of business.

look at the ridiculousness of the 'sushi trend' in the states, and to a lesser extant the rest of the western world. A restaurant with even the slightest hint of asian cuisine now proudly boasts that they have a sushi bar. You can sushi at that chinese place, with your thai food, sushi and tacos, sushi at the grocery store, sushi at your college cafeteria, sushi at the 7-11. There is a huge demand for it and it's not going away. When the tuna is gone we'll move onto spicy bass rolls.

I loved the concerned conservationist who can't take the step to change their habits, myself included.

But even worse are the lovely folk who see multiple signs of the damage we cause to the planet and the ripples those have and toss their hands in the air saying "so now we're to blame for xyz? i thought it was abc? it's always something isn't it"

Yes it is always something. Everything action has a reaction. In the case of very interconnected ecosystems it's usually multiple reactions, and they're usually all bad.
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dogrun81, take a look at what happened to the cod fishery in Atlantic Canada. The same thing is happening to the tuna and it is at a point where the fishing needs to stop. No one was listening to the warnings years ago either so the 'reasonable restriction' stage is long gone.
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OH NOES! THE TUNA WILL BE GONE!

The WWF are pathetic. Earth Hour is a pitiful, meaningless "LOOK AT ME CARE" stunt that achieves nothing. I believe the exact impact I saw was something like taking 3 cars off the road for a year. That's worldwide. And don't give me this "awareness" nonsense. Who isn't already aware? It's just a pointless PR stunt to make people feel good that ultimately does nothing.

As is this nonsense. (And I say this as someone who LOVES tuna.)

Guarantee I'll still be eating tuna sandwiches in 2013.
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We are witnessing the beginning of a complete collapse of life in the world's oceans. If you doubt this, please do a little research.

A complete ban on seafood is coming.

It will either be a voluntary short-term ban that will allow fish populations time to recover (and thus ensuring our children can eat fish) or the seafood ban will be involuntary as in "we've porked and polluted our way through the oceans and all the fish are gone forever and ever" kind of involuntary.

I hope I like eating jellyfish because that's pretty much all that'll be left when the fish are gone.

Oh, and the plastic. Jellyfish and floating plastic. Yum!
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Tuna wiped out by 2012?

Anyone thinking this is likely is invited to make themselves immensely rich by buying canned tuna at today's prices and selling in three or four years. But no-one will because even the loonies realise it's rubbish.
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That great protector of the oceans, none other than Ted Danson said we have only 10 years before the oceans will be dead due to our carelessness. So I'm not sure singling out the tuna is the best way to approach this problem.

Then again, Danson made that statement in 1988.
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"tuna's going extinct, eat as much as you can now while they're still around!!!!!!" is really bad advice. if fishing practices must change to save tuna, let's all stop eating it!
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In the USA, some of the best conservationists are the hunters.

Yes, just like most pedophiles would support schools. Motive counts, especially when, like conservations hunters, your actions go completely opposite your stated interest.
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Tokugawa Japan is famous for its reforestation program as an example of success and pride noted by Pulitzer prize author Jared Diamond in the book "Collapse: Why certain societies choose to fail." It would be nice for Japanese (Nihonjin) to share their opinions of why this is happening. This would be a wise starting point. Japanese are some of the most educated, and well traveled of modern cultures; surely they have an observation on this
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Few people & few companies are in it for the long haul. With the average college educated person having 4 jobs before they are thirty (rather than 1.5 in the 60s and prior), it is no surprise that people want to make money quickly, then jump when the ship is going down. The same is true in fishing, banking, whatever. The solution is regulation, and unfortunately it is not popular because politicians are also in it for the relatively short run - getting elected and being popular.
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Has anyone stopped to think about how many cattle, or chicken or pigs are killed every day (not just two months)? Why aren't they going extinct? Instead groups like the WWF think there are too many of them. The answer is simple .. private ownership. I agree to put this into practice will not be easy.

Fish in international waters will be and always have been a "tragedy of the commons". Go read, find out what that means .. government cannot resolve that problem .. it can only make it worse.

Or, we could all follow Pol Pot's example (what the WWF wants) and live a life of subsistence farming.
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so why exactly is the article saying EAT AS MUCH SUSHI AS YOU CAN NOW when the fishing industry is dependent on consumption? It should be more like, hold off on sushi or something constructive rather than fuel the fire.
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"In the USA, some of the best conservationists are the hunters.

Yes, just like most pedophiles would support schools. Motive counts, especially when, like conservations hunters, your actions go completely opposite your stated interest."

-Actually, hunters ARE some of the best conservationists, because they understand BALANCE, unlike you stupid unrealistic tree hugging WWF morons. I live in the states, and if hunters didn't drastically reduce the deer population every fall, we would be in severe trouble. Human fatalities from car wrecks aside, they would eat themselves into extinction. thats right, they don't know how to stop eating so they just keep on till they all starve. Oh, and my friends would starve to, because they eat everything they kill, just like the precious animals you so lovingly defend. Balance, not hippie bullshit that places humans lower on the totem pole than fungus will get us through.
And as far as the fishing problem? Yeah, over fishing is a serious issue, but not one that can't be fixed with some common sense. Let the ocean breath a little, no one benefits from an empty puddle. But the WWF has been so far off on there predictions in the past, I have a hard time believing them anymore. The hippies who cried tuna. You can't keep screaming at the top of your lungs and expect us to hear you after a point.
So my point is screw you self righteous hippies for condemning humans for behavior that is distinctly "life on earth"-ish(hunting other creatures for food is NOT inherently wrong and if it is then someone forgot to tell 99% of sentient life on this rock), and screw the greedy bastards who have no sense of balance in the extreme opposite(seasons, bitches, seasons! No eco system or species can withstand relentless hunting forever).
You extremists(in BOTH directions) will be death of us all, mark my words. Humans can't decide if we have the God given right to plunder the whole world, or if we should be killing off worthless excess human vermin for merely existing(which is where this all seems to be leading). Both sides are wrong, and both will lead to destruction. Not being an alarmist, just saying. Weather you worship or condemn human life and it's place in this world, you are not seeing things clearly at all, for humans deserve neither worship nor condemnation. We deserve a chance.
Oh well, it's all probably a grand prison planet conspiracy anyway...
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This is about Blue Fin, which are the prime sushi tuna. Blue fin is not in tuna cans. 60 minutes did a story this year on the modern way Blue fin are harvested, using spotting planes and ship envoys encircling large groups. The modern techniques have caused the numbers to drop dramatically. If we're going to lose the Blue Fin for consumption in three years, we might as well lose it now for consumption and hope that in it's artificial absence from our plates it will recuperate. If not, I've lost hope in humanity. Why kill off a species for just three more years of use?
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Fish Farming is the way to go. This is what is happening in South Australia. Even though we have a great tuna fishing industry we are also developing tuna farms to make it sustainable. A lot of South Australian Tuna is exported to Japan etc.
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I'm going to bookmark this. Then, in 2013 I'm going to pull this computer out of the closet (where it will have been since it's long obsolete), boot it up, and then read this article as I feast on plentiful tuna sashimi.

And I am going to laugh and laugh.
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What we are witnessing now is the beginning of the end of all life forms on planet Earth. If you don't believe this, you are ridiculously misinformed and deserve what is about to happen.
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#9, no we don't have too many deer because of hunting restrictions, we have too many deer because men with rifles made wolves extinct in most of the US.
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99% of all life that has ever lived on this planet is now extinct. For one reason or another "fate" has let this happen. Our planet is a living, breathing, organism and it knows how to take care of itself and all of the life that resides on it. We can worry all we like but it will not change the fact that this planet can shake us off of itself whenever it feels the urge. The poor blue fin tuna as well.
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ok one...the fish in the picture are fake....two....im sure if the fish were in any danger of being extinct then the world (even japan) would do something...three...any notice what else WWF stands for? its kinda hard to believe all this nonsense.
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Flocks of passenger pigeons used to literally darken US skies and no one thought they could be hunted to extinction. Buffalo used to roam the prairies by the tens of thousands and pioneers hunted those herds into near extinction.
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ivy, I think buffalo numbered in the millions, if not billions, but we get your point.

crowxtzr, WWF is the World Wildlife Federation. Their name is copyrighted, which is why the World Wrestling Federation suddenly changed its name a few years ago.

I agree with some of the posts, that the Japanese whaling fleets aren't doing any scientific research,
and I suspect that they won't do anything about this
issue either.
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Rick: "Has anyone stopped to think about how many cattle, or chicken or pigs are killed every day (not just two months)? Why aren’t they going extinct?'

Rick: You are really, really stoooopid. (really) I mean it. Cattle, Chicken and pigs are DOMESTIC animals that are bred and raised by the millions. Tuna are wild animals. Over fishing has decimated (sorry Rick, a big word) many species of fish but tuna are the most highly prized, and as predators, their population is limited compared to their food sources.

Curley: 99% of all life that has ever lived on this planet is now extinct. For one reason or another “fate” has let this happen."

Curley: Are you some kinda tuna industry hack? As a geologist, I can verify that yes, 99% of all species have gone extinct over the last 400 (that's FOUR HUNDRED MILLION YEARS, dumb ass.) "Fate" has nothing to do with the possible extinction of the bluefin tuna. Greedy humanity has everything to do with it. Lot's of other fish are in trouble too due to over fishing, like the Cod, here in New England. Why are you hiding your head in the sand?

crowxtzr: The picture is REAL. It's of the main fish market in Tokyo. The tuna carcasses are frozen before they are auctioned off. Don't let your ignorance get in the way of your learning.

I am not a member of the WWF or a pitchman for their point-of view. I don't have any information as to the bluefins about to go extinct, I'm just commenting on the foolish posts I've seen here.
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There are only five licensed blue fin tuna seiners on the entire east coast of the United States. Just five. Of those five, only three are running currently and it may now be down to one or two this upcoming season.

The past few years these guys have effectively caught nothing - not a single fish. Yes, there are definitely fewer fish, but there are still massive blue fin schools to be found.

Yet - they're just not being caught here as easily as they once were. Why?

It's not necessarily because they're not there, but because conditions have to be perfect for a tuna seiner to be able to successfully make a set. One main reason they're catching fewer tuna is simply because they seem to be further out at sea. The Blue Fin's food source has been fished out locally near shore, and so they follow the food, which is now much further from land. Tuna also have to be relatively close to the surface to catch. Spotter planes may criss cross the oceans for days without even seeing a school.

Once a group is found (of the right legal size) and swimming at the surface, the boat has to be able to get there. There's a lot more ground to cover when the playing field includes open ocean and the boats aren't the fastest. In addition, tuna like to school with whale sharks - not so good for the net and fisherman hate bycatch.

So, it isn't the actual New England commercial fisherman who are depleting the stocks. Hell, they can't make a living anymore. If anyone in the U.S. can be blamed I would be more content to point a finger at the sports fisherman or weekend guys who go out, kill their quota (three I think) and come in. They make quite a bit of money doing this and often follow the commercial guy's sighting planes to find out where the schools are. Then, all the small sport boat has to do is get in the way. A commercial boat cannot legally make a set if there is am smaller boat within X number of feet.

As for the sports fisherman, there are hundreds of them. So if one actual seiner catches 350 fish in one entire season and in one weekend 350 sports fisherman meet their quota of three tuna each, the sports fisherman have already done more damage.

Those who blindly bark about commercial fishing generally have no idea what is going on, and while the sports guys may do more damage - it's nothing at all compared to what happens to the tuna school when it heads further east to the Meditteraneran.

This country has actually done quite a bit to sustain tuna populations - but they're a global species in that they migrate all over the world. Unless other countries are willing to do their part, Blue Fin will die. Some countries are trying. Others have strict legislation but no enforcement. Other countries don't have the power to effectively police the waters and the land. Some countries are set in their ways - they fish with hand held nets and the entire village relies on the once a year kill...there are a lot of factors.

It's going to take a global effort and like many of the people posting here have said, it's the fisherman who are heading the conservation campaigns - don't chastise the ones who do more for the effort than a majority of those who gripe and complain yet do nothing.

If you want to help, contact the fisheries. Let them know you want environmental global action. Educate yourself about the situation. Write a letter. Eat some yellow fin instead. Stop eating the tuna's food (schooling fish like herring and sardines). Just be productive instead of making the problem worse by effectively doing nothing and blaming the wrong people.

I don't eat tuna. I don't eat sushi. I am not a fisherman. I am not connected to tuna in anyway except that I know they are a keystone species. Instead of pointing fingers and arguing with others about the topics, I've chosen action. Contact ICAAT and request global action. Contact the UN and do the same. Those who fish from our country aren't making a dent in the populations because there are already strict quotas in place. Demand that other countries do the same.

http://www.gpa.unep.org/content.html?id=180&ln=6

http://www.iccat.int/en/
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A little bit late on the post but anyway : I've been Big Game fishing in the Mediterrannean for about 30 years : I don't need any fancy study or activist group to tell you : there is no more adult tuna there.
Big fishes have been wiped out by commercial fisheries (I remember the rucus caused by incoming factory fleets from Japan and the Soviet era in the 80's). They are now fishing in spawning areas next to Lybia. They'll stop when there won't have a fish to catch.
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Typical. Ignore what's staring you in the face until it's unfixable, and by the way, this isn't "Climate Change" or ":Environmentalism" or some other simple-minded orthodoxy. Where are the fish? I know the terms of debate have been ruined by wolf-crying, but...where are the fish? Remember what happened to the Atlantic cod? Nice work. Keep eating sushi with your defiant, stupid chins in the air. Have meetings designed not to offend anyone. Have more meetings. Make sure you allow decimation in the name of "cultural tradition". Then, complain bitterly about your lifeless ocean.
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To take action and have a voice on behalf of saving the bluefin tuna, you can join http://www.savethebluefin.com. It's a free site that only asks that people speak up and say that they care about an ocean that counts the mighty bluefin tuna as a member. The problem is largely that many people are unaware of the problem so groundswell efforts must increase. It's not too late, if we act. Take a minute and give it to the bluefin tuna, while you still can.
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Wow, some of the comments here are simply scary. I'm seriously wondering if half of them were made by grade-school children. Was this article mentioned in some sort of teaching guide? If the things above were said by adults, then I'm afraid for a lot more than just the Tuna. Incredibly ignorant and misinformed bunch. I laughed when someone mentioned "cans of Tuna," as if the article is referring to Albacore. How dumb can you be? Do people SERIOUSLY not understand the tragedy of a lost species, and what it does to an ecosystem? Isn't that 7th grade science?
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Is it the culture of eating fish; are they simply trying to survive; or is it greed for more money that makes these folks keep on targeting species that are on the endangered list.

There have been good examples of how lower quota's , sometimes zero quota's, for small periods of time have helped replenish stock to a sustainable level.

In New Zealand the fishers have been known to self-imposed smaller quota's to promote the ongoing sustainability of stock rahter than wipe it out and have no livelyhood in the future.

Food/sushi for thought?
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Honestly, Enviros are constantly saying "such and such will be gone in ten years"... Recently, they've gone down to six or four years, because our attention span is lower. At this point, the planet doesn't even have enough time to globally warm enough to kill us before the next ice age.
If you don't believe human beings can reasonably steward our farmable food sources, you're simply blind to history. What's more, if you honestly think that human use of natural resources is the problem, your only reasonable response is to kill yourself.
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Dave57a
very well said

the ingnorance of people amazes me,all of you who think we can continue to use every resource on this planet like the supply is endless,you are all fools.There may be no garuntee that there will or will not be and blue fin tuna left in 2012,thats not the point at all,the point is that it could happen,and eventually will
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"Wow, some of the comments here are simply scary. "

Fukkin-a brother,

Lazy/ignorant people who seem to think that all is right with the world... Just crazy. Please do a little research before you mouth off.. There are many animals have gone extinct in the past 100 years. Many more failing (due to us.) It will continue to happen without serious changes in human/idiot behavior.
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There is an Australian company (Clean Seas Tuna) that is looking to be the fist to successfully breed southern blue fin tuna. They have been able to replicate the difficult conditions required to promote spawning.

From memory the southern blue fin tuna they have spawned are now fingerlings and are quite healthy.

They have been working closely with a Japanese University and if successful they will be able to support the worlds tuna demand
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Tuna's horrible anyway, along with most fish. I wonder if we'll notice qnything wrong when the oceqn's bare? When our teqcher qsked us if the mediterrqneqn was polluted or not, 5/6 of the class said it wasn't. In fact the mediterranean is the most polluted ocean in the world. That's how detatched most of humanity is from nature. Only when we're sweltering in 50°c will we notice how the world is around us.
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Poor Tuna. ): It really is the end of the world if the Tuna dies... Wow. Kioinkydink. It's so random that they die out when it's "The End Of The World". Gah... idiots... Two words...
TUNA SANCTUARY!!
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