Conservationists Meet To Avert Feared Tuna Extinction

Terra Daily ^ | 01/22/2007 | Staff Writers

[cogitator]

Environmentalists called Monday for a radical overhaul of fishing practices to prevent a worldwide collapse in tuna stocks as international conservation bodies opened their first joint meeting on the species. The five-day meeting in the western Japanese city of Kobe will look at ways to share information among regions to monitor tuna numbers and control illegal fishing vessels, officials said.

Environmentalists called on participants to come up with substantive measures to protect the fish, which are highly prized in Japan.

Greenpeace said it was "high time" for governments to recognize the seriousness of the tuna issue.

Governments "must acknowledge that a radical change to fisheries management is urgently required if they are to prevent the collapse of tuna stocks across the globe," it said.

Simon Cripps, director of the WWF's global marine programme, said the talks in Japan "provide an opportunity for all interested nations to adopt approaches that ensure good practices to protect tuna, other marine life and the well-being of coastal communities."

He said scientific advice to governments about conservation measures has gone ignored for too long.

"Sustainable management of the world's tuna fisheries should be possible, if the will can be found," he said in a statement.

The meeting is expected to adopt an action plan Friday to cooperate on the conservation and management of tuna stocks, said Takaaki Sakamoto, a Japanese official attending the conference.

"Our goal should be to achieve sustainable use of tuna resources for the future and to prove both domestically and internationally that maintaining tuna fishing is possible," Toshiro Shirasu, the head of Japan's Fisheries Agency, said in opening remarks.

Two international fishing industry groups have called on the meeting to declare a moratorium on the use of any additional large tuna vessels to stop the stocks from diminishing further.

The meeting brings together five tuna conservation bodies that cover different regions, including the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean. Representatives of 60 countries or areas are taking part, officials said.

Japan eats a quarter of the world's tuna, more than any other country, but faces pressure from environmentalists, who have blamed the global fad for Japanese food for bringing tuna numbers to the brink of eventual extinction.

An international commission in November reduced the world's gross catch of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean from 32,000 tons in 2006 to 29,500 tons this year, a move likely to lead to an import crunch in Japan.

Japan has also accepted a major cut in its quota for southern bluefin tuna in the Pacific Ocean as punishment for overfishing.

[devolve]

$ORRYNANZI!

[Red Badger]

...that tuna steak ...looks a bit overdone.

The tuna turns a brownish shade when heat is applied. Besides I'm not into sushi...........might get worms.......

[Red Badger]

...DARK, DARK, DARK GERMAN BEER! WITH A BIT OF HOPS BITE TO IT!........

[Fierce Allegiance]

[cogitator]

farm them like we did to the rest of the production worthy animals

Bluefin tuna are pelagic and migratory; hard to farm.

[potlatch]

Good post devolve. Yes, I noticed..

[devolve]

Thanks potlatch

Connecting?

[potlatch]

Connecting now, over 40 minutes after your post!!

[devolve]

Good!

Check email

[potlatch]

OK, forgot about that!!

[Flavius]

i dont care where they migrate cows im sure migrated all over the green earth

now they are shoved into pens and happy munching on straw

same should be for fat blue tuna

as scarry as that sounds

and thanks to mothern search technique check this out

Over the past decade the farmed sector has grown to the point where around 98 per cent of the Australian southern bluefin tuna quota is now farmed.

http://www.australian-aquacultureportal.com/industrygroups/tuna_bluefin.html

I love to see common sense applied , 70% of this rock is water and we managed not to farm it, glad Australians are doing it...

98% thats just awesome

[Kay Ludlow]

I just can't help it - whenever I hear about the need for something to be "sustainable" I can't help but think about the radical communists amongst us. Add in 'environmentalist groups' and I know for sure that's the agenda - after all, green = recycled communist!

Tuna will not become extinct from overfishing as long as capitalism rules. As tuna become more scarce, the price will rise (as demand exceeds supply). Ultimately as long as there's no government interference the demand will go down because of the price, and fishermen will turn to other sources for their income. Without the high levels of fishing, the tuna population will re-surge.

I read an article from the early 1900's on a genealogy mailing list about all the species that were extinct or nearly so. Many were fur-bearers. The price for fur became so high that by the only the very wealthy could buy it and demand declined. Then, the PETA types added some social pressure to the mix so even the wealthy wouldn't buy much fur. The result is that most of those animals they called "extinct or nearly so" have rebounded in population. Some have rebounded so much they're becoming nuisance animals.

[cogitator]

I'm impressed. Still not breeding from hatched eggs to adult fish, but a step in the right direction (as is the use of feed rather than baitfish).

Thanks for the post.

[Bender2]

So, the tuna's gone...

Look...

Bill has already resigned as the Cowboy's coach...

Move along...

Nothing more to see here!

[Flavius]

no problem

im totally obsessed with tuna production

its insane that we dont apply oceans to same farming as we did on planes

if we could farm oceans how many billions of people would be supported

not to mention if we converted oceans to fresh water and flood sahara and other deserts

but hey down the road i suppose