Free Republic

The whole story starts with a farmer. Specifically, the farmer at Jortveit farm in southern Norway. Around the beginning of the 1930s he decided to drain a wetland near the farm so he could cultivate new land. But while he was working on the deep drainage trenches, strange things started to crop up. Bones from a bluefin tuna and a killer whale. And huge fish hooks and harpoons made of bones. In the middle of the wetland! The tools eventually ended up in the University Museum of Antiquities in Oslo, where they were studied by archaeologists. The bones, on the...

Self-described Japanese "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura paid a record $3 million for a 612-pound (278-kilogram) bluefin tuna at the first new year's auction in Tokyo on Saturday. The winning sum for the prized and threatened species at the auction was more than double the previous record from the annual New Year auction, set in 2013. Kimura, the owner of Kiyomura Corp who also runs the Sushi Zanmai chain, is a regular winner of the annual auctions. He told Japanese broadcaster NHK that he was surprised by the price this year, but didn’t regret the purchase. “The quality of the tuna...

A nuclear disaster may lead to insights into the mysterious migrations of Pacific bluefin tuna, a fish species that recently has suffered a dramatic decline. Scientists report in a new study that they can use trace amounts of radiation in bluefin tuna to sketch the crisscrossing passage of the fish through the world's largest ocean. Understanding how many fish move back and forth may help with the conservation of bluefin tuna. During the Fukushima nuclear disaster, two years ago, radioactive particles flooded into the Pacific Ocean. Bluefin tuna swimming through these waters began to store certain radioisotopes, called cesium 134...

Rejection Thursday of a bluefin tuna ban at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) drew sighs of relief from sushi chefs and fishermen across Japan. Japan consumes about three-quarters of the globe's bluefin tuna.

Polar bear, bluefin tuna trade bans rejected Thu, Mar 18 2010 By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Proposed international trade bans on polar bears and Atlantic bluefin tuna failed to pass on Thursday at a 175-nation meeting aimed at protecting endangered species. The United States favored both bans and was disappointed in the vote, but held out hope for passage of a resolution that would make climate change a factor in future decisions by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES. The meeting of CITES in Doha, Qatar, will consider the climate change...

EU backing for bluefin tuna trade ban sparks Japan protests Governments indicate support for complete international ban to allow species to recover from years of over-fishing Japanese tuna brokers protested today after the EU decided to support a worldwide trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna. EU governments indicated that they would back a complete international ban on the species to allow the bluefin to recover from years of over-fishing. The protest came just days ahead of a meeting this weekend of Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, in Doha, which will see 175 member states vote on...