Shocking facts have been revealed about the global depletion of the stock of all three bluefin tuna species in recent times. Anna Hager investigates what this means for the tuna industry and how we continue to force bluefin tuna down the path to extinction.

If you’re thinking about sitting down at your favourite sushi restaurant to indulge in a big chunk of sashimi in the near future, you might want to know a few facts about your favourite meal first, because this delicacy is causing chaos for the bluefin tuna industry.

Globally, tuna is one of the most popular fish to eat. According to healthytuna.com, it is so popular that one third of all seafood consumed in America is comprised of tuna. The US and Japan also consume the largest amount of bluefin tuna at 31 per cent.

Despite this, few tuna eaters are aware that the bluefin tuna species, primarily used for products such as sashimi at the higher end of the market, is actually close to extinction if we continue to consume and harvest it at current rates.

The Southern Bluefin Tuna population for example is estimated to have reduced by at least 80 per cent over the past three generations.

According to a report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), fishing quotas in Australia alone have risen from around 9,000 ton in 2004 to over 10,000 in 2008.

“Over 99 per cent of the harvest of 8,500 tonnes [Southern Bluefin only] per annum is exported, almost all to Japan,” Brian Jeffriess, CEO of the Australian Southern Bluefin Industry Association says.

The value of bluefin tuna as commercial catch goes back to ancient times, when the Greeks and Phoenicians started harvesting it. Fastforward and demand soared in the 1970s, when commercial fishing made the capturing of this gentle giant much easier.

What is the plight of the bluefin tuna?

When talking about bluefin tuna, classified as one of the heaviest and largest known bony fish, it is important to consider that there are three distinctly different breeds.

Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT), found in the Southern Hemisphere, is also the most important species to Australia’s fishing industry.

Southern Bluefin can weigh up to 200 kilograms; grow up to a size of two metres and get to the age of forty years.

The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) says that SBT is mainly exported to Japan, where premium prices can be obtained due to the high fat content in the flesh.

“The SBT caught are mainly frozen at very low temperatures (-60C) and either unloaded at intermediate ports and shipped to markets in Japan or unloaded directly at markets in Japan,” the CCSBT says.

At a pace of up to 70 kilometres per hour, the second breed, Pacific Bluefin Tuna are dubbed the biggest and fastest creatures of the Pacific Ocean, but haven’t been on the radar as much as their cousin, the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.

Atlantic Bluefin is native to the Atlantic Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea. According to scientists, the Atlantic Bluefin breed is in the worst position out of all three.

“Atlantic Bluefin is heavily over-fished and stocks are in danger of irreversible collapse,” says Glenn Sant, Global Marine Program leader at TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

Maria Jose Cornax, marine scientist from OCEANA in Spain also says, “Although Pacific and Southern Bluefin are overexploited as well; their biomass is higher than that of the Atlantic case.”

But, despite being different species, all bluefin tuna are crucially linked in their plight and need to be dealt with on a uniform basis.

“An Atlantic Bluefin tuna trade ban would have implied the necessary inclusion of the other bluefin tunas in CITES Appendix II as look-alike species, due to difficulties to differentiate processed forms of tunas because of their similarities,” Cornax says.

Despite attempts at regulation, bluefin continues down the road to extinction

The highly migratory nature of bluefin tuna and the economic importance of the species make controlling and co-ordinating an attempt to save stocks very difficult.

Sheree Glasson from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia says that, “tuna are highly migratory. Because of this, managing tuna fisheries is co-ordinated under international agreements, through bodies known as regional fisheries management organisations.”

In recent times there have been several major and mostly unsuccessful attempts to regulate the international trade of bluefin tuna.

In 2009, Malta, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, France and Greece blocked a proposed bluefin trade ban despite support from 21 other EU governments.

This came after Monaco and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), asked for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna to be put on the endangered species list.

Most recently in March 2010, a CITES convention in Doha proposing an all-out ban on the export of Atlantic Bluefin resulted in a contentious battle between the East and the West. The proposal was blocked, once again leaving the fate of the fish species uncertain.

Despite these unsuccessful efforts to secure the future of bluefin tuna, there have been some positive developments.

Although the bluefin tuna trade means big business, Tamara Ward from the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Virginia, says that regardless of the setbacks at Doha the conservation of Atlantic Bluefin is a high priority for America.

“We will keep fighting to ensure that fishery is managed sustainably, so that future generations may see a return to health,” she says.

In Australia, where the NSW Department of Primary Industries added the Southern Bluefin Tuna to the endangered species list, the Commonwealth Government decided to reduce Southern Bluefin fishing quotas by 23 per cent to 4015 tonnes in June 2010.

In an attempt to protect the bluefin tuna, the European Union recently ended the official 2010 tuna season a week early; with a ban affecting the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, the Guardian reported.

Conservation organisations have also become aware of the situation. In January 2010 for example, the Sea Shepherd, well known for their anti-whaling efforts, have added protection of bluefin tuna to their conservation agenda.

They are planning to do this mainly by interrupting illegal poachers from depleting already frail-looking stocks. This campaign however will be confined to the Mediterranean, meaning that it will only protect the Atlantic Bluefin breed.

Illegal fishing and poaching heavily contribute to the plight of Bluefin

Despite strict regulations, illegal poaching of the bluefin tuna species does nothing but add to the irreversible collapse of a once healthy stock.

Over the 22 years leading up to 2006, large-scale illegal catch has depleted the Southern Bluefin stock in Southern Hemisphere waters. But poaching is a phenomenon affecting all bluefin species.

“The biggest quotas for fishing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna are held by the USA and the EU. However, in the Mediterranean particularly, there is a lot of illegal fishing of tuna,” says Sant from TRAFFIC.

Brian Jeffriess, from the SBT Industry Association, also says that Australia recently lost large amounts of fishing quota “even though the stock problem was caused by Japan’s illegal catch”.

“This happened because Australia was trying to buy Japan’s goodwill on wider trade issues.

“What the outcome said to both the SBT industry and the wider fishing industry was that the Australian Government was prepared to sacrifice an important seafood industry to achieve a bigger trade agenda,” he says.

Tamara Ward from FWS also says that illegal fishing results in uncertainty with stock levels, which in turn can lead to overfishing of the bluefin tuna species.

“Although fishing regulations are currently in place, unsustainable quota levels and overfishing, including illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities, are threats to the Eastern and Western stock,” she says.

Read Part two of Anna Hager‘s article, Where have all the fish gone? tomorrow.