A Major Blow to Bluefin Tuna

The future looks bleak for bluefin tuna.

An international vote today killed a proposed global trade ban for the critically depleted fish, leaving the species vulnerable to continued rampant overfishing.

The vote at a committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES, was a crushing blow for the iconic species: 20 countries voted for protection (including the United States), 68 against and 30 abstained.

Strong pressure from Japan, the largest importer of bluefin tuna, and the commercial fishing industry prevailed. The market for the fish – which can weigh up to 1,600 pounds each and net thousands of dollars – is just too lucrative for countries to forgo.

Yet doing nothing jeopardizes the health of the bluefin trade for the future. The Western Atlantic Ocean population has plummeted 82 percent since 1970 from about 222,600 mature fish down to about 41,000, according to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, ICCAT, a regional fishery management organization.

Today’s decision puts bluefin tuna’s fate back in the hands of ICCAT, the very organization that has driven the species to its disastrous state. ICCAT has set fishing levels higher than the species can withstand.

We need more sustainable fishing levels. ICCAT should understand that the long-term viability of the fishing industries they regulate depends on the long-term survival of the fish.

We can also do more at home. Now more than ever, the United States needs to step up and increase protections for the species. The Gulf of Mexico is bluefin tuna’s only known spawning ground in the western Atlantic Ocean.

Although commercial fishermen have been banned from directly targeting bluefin tuna in the Gulf since 1982, destructive fishing practices threaten the species. Bluefin get caught on commercial fishing lines intended to snare swordfish and yellowfin tuna. These fishing lines are baited with hundreds of hooks and extend an average 25 miles along the water’s surface. We need safer fishing gear to better protect these fish.

Bluefin tuna can swim faster than 40 mph in spurts, live for 40 years, grow to 14 feet long, dive to 3,000 feet and migrate thousands of miles each year across the Atlantic. We don’t have time to wait to save these truly remarkable fish.

Debbie Salamone is Communications Manager at the Pew Campaign to End Overfishing in the Southeast.