Overfishing of Southern Bluefin Tuna
Overfishing of the Southern Bluefin Tuna
The Problem
Figure 1 : An adult Southern Bluefin Tuna fish. (Thunnus-maccoyii)
Figure 1 : An adult Southern Bluefin Tuna fish. (Thunnus-maccoyii) Conservationists are working hard across the world to protect endangered species. One problem that biologists are facing is the declining wild population of the southern Bluefin tuna and the main reason for this problem is the rapid overfishing of the fish. The Bluefin tuna (Thunnus-maccoyii)( figure 1) is a fish that is only found in the southern hemisphere and has become critically endangered in the last 60 years. This is mainly as a result of the Bluefin tuna being overfished in the southern hemisphere for commercial usage in the fish market. It has been fish so extensively in recent years that it is now the near the point of extinction. The Bluefin tuna is not fished for the commercial canned tuna market but for the sushi market as it has a different taste to other tuna species. Japan is the largest consumer of this species of tuna, consuming more than 80% of the world’s Bluefin tuna catch [1] therefore demand for it there is very high. The southern Bluefin tuna has only one spawning site, in the ocean off the coast of Indonesia. There are various other types of tuna fish in the oceans, but none of the others are as threatened by overfishing as the southern Bluefin is. The constant improvements in fishing technology and equipment has allowed knowledge of the main migration routes of the tuna, and so very effective fishing, and in the last 60 years marine conservationists have seen the population of the southern Bluefin Tuna drop by 92% [2]. This significant decline in the worldwide stocks of this tuna has led to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) placing the Bluefin tuna on the critically endangered list and Greenpeace also added the fish onto their seafood red list [3]. This means that they recognise the fish is being overfished and the
The Problem
Figure 1 : An adult Southern Bluefin Tuna fish. (Thunnus-maccoyii)
Figure 1 : An adult Southern Bluefin Tuna fish. (Thunnus-maccoyii) Conservationists are working hard across the world to protect endangered species. One problem that biologists are facing is the declining wild population of the southern Bluefin tuna and the main reason for this problem is the rapid overfishing of the fish. The Bluefin tuna (Thunnus-maccoyii)( figure 1) is a fish that is only found in the southern hemisphere and has become critically endangered in the last 60 years. This is mainly as a result of the Bluefin tuna being overfished in the southern hemisphere for commercial usage in the fish market. It has been fish so extensively in recent years that it is now the near the point of extinction. The Bluefin tuna is not fished for the commercial canned tuna market but for the sushi market as it has a different taste to other tuna species. Japan is the largest consumer of this species of tuna, consuming more than 80% of the world’s Bluefin tuna catch [1] therefore demand for it there is very high. The southern Bluefin tuna has only one spawning site, in the ocean off the coast of Indonesia. There are various other types of tuna fish in the oceans, but none of the others are as threatened by overfishing as the southern Bluefin is. The constant improvements in fishing technology and equipment has allowed knowledge of the main migration routes of the tuna, and so very effective fishing, and in the last 60 years marine conservationists have seen the population of the southern Bluefin Tuna drop by 92% [2]. This significant decline in the worldwide stocks of this tuna has led to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) placing the Bluefin tuna on the critically endangered list and Greenpeace also added the fish onto their seafood red list [3]. This means that they recognise the fish is being overfished and the