Because tuna has been a staple food to some, while a much-coveted delicacy to others, the world has now reached the point of peak tuna. The species has been overfished beyond the point of any sustainability. Tuna populations have greatly dwindled to a dismal 15 percent of its original numbers. Blame this on the pricey status of this fleshy and fatty fish, as well as on advances in fishing technology.
Dane Klinger and Kimiko Narita write in Foreign Policy, “But because of their status as a delicacy and due to advances in fishing technology, populations of Atlantic bluefin tuna are now severely depleted. Where fishermen once hunted the giant fish with harpoons and hooks, many now use modern vessels equipped with powerful sonar to find fish underwater and radar to track seabirds that gather around tuna schools, as well as giant nets that can efficiently encircle and capture entire schools of bluefin. Most tuna are then held in net pens and fattened on mackerels, sardines, and squid to increase their market value. Unless trends reverse, wild bluefin tuna might become exceedingly rare and off the menu entirely.”
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will soon be meeting to officially designate the bluefin tuna as “threatened with extinction,” putting it in the same league as African elephants, mountain gorillas, and Siberian tigers.
Environmentalists Klinger and Narita offer a twist of insight, saying, “Most significantly, this listing would ban international trade of bluefin, meaning that Japan’s favorite snack would become “threatened with extinction” as well.”
