Tuna at serious risk of extinction

Not just bluefin tuna under threat

July 2011: For the first time, all species of scombrids (tunas, bonitos, mackerels and Spanish mackerels) and billfishes (swordfish and marlins) have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of the 61 known species, seven are classified in a threatened category, being at serious risk of extinction. Four species are listed as Near Threatened.

The results show that the situation is particularly serious for tuna. Five of the eight species of tuna are in the Threatened or Near Threatened IUCN Red List Categories. These include: the Critically Endangered southern bluefin, the Atlantic bluefin (Endangered), bigeye (Vulnerable), yellowfin (Near Threatened), and albacore (Near Threatened).


This new information will be invaluable in helping governments make decisions which will safeguard the future of these species, many of which are of extremely high economic value.

Little hope of recovery for southern bluefin
‘All three bluefin tuna species are susceptible to collapse under continued excessive fishing pressure. The southern bluefin has already essentially crashed, with little hope of recovery,' says Dr Kent Carpenter, Professor at Old Dominion University, manager of IUCN's Marine Biodiversity Unit and an author of the paper.

‘If no changes are made to current fishing practices, the western Atlantic bluefin stocks are at risk of collapse as they are showing little sign that the population is rebuilding following a significant reduction in the Seventies.'

Three species of billfishes are in Threatened or Near Threatened categories: blue marlin (Vulnerable), white marlin (Vulnerable); and striped marlin (Near Threatened).

Most of the long-lived economically valuable species are considered threatened. They mature later than short-lived species and their reproductive turnover is longer, and as such recovery from population declines takes more time. As these scombrids and billfishes are at the top of the pelagic food web, population reductions of these predators may cause significant negative effects on other species that are critical to the balance of the marine ecosystem and that are economically important as a source of food.


Tough deterrents to fishing are needed
The future of threatened scombrids and billfishes rests on the ability of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and fishing nations to properly manage these species. Southern and Atlantic bluefin populations have been so reduced that the most efficient way to avoid collapse is to shut down the fisheries until stocks are rebuilt to healthy levels.

However, this would cause substantial economic hardship and hinder the ability of RFMOs to control fishing because of the increased incentive for illegal fishing that would be created under these circumstances.

‘Temporarily shutting down tuna fisheries would only be a part of a much needed recovery programme. In order to prevent illegal fishing, strong deterrents need to be implemented,' says Jean-Christophe Vié, deputy director of IUCN's global species programme. ‘This new study shows that there is an urgent need for effective management. Scientific findings should not be discarded in order to maintain short-term profit. Marine life and jobs for future generations are both at stake.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/tuna-extinction.html

Growing Atlantic dead zone shrinks habitat for billfish and tuna, may lead to over-harvest

A dead zone off the coast of West Africa is reducing the amount of available habitat for Atlantic tuna and billfish species, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a study published in Fisheries Oceanography. The zone is growing due to rising water temperatures and is expected to cause over-harvest of tuna and billfish as the fish seek higher levels of oxygen in areas with greater fisheries activity.


Dead zones are areas of the ocean which are too low in oxygen to support many marine species. There are about 400 of these "hypoxic" regions throughout the world, many caused by human activities. Perhaps the most notorious, the New Jersey-size dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is caused by fertilizer runoff released by the Mississippi which encourages oxygen-depleting algae to proliferate out of control. Another dead zone was discovered in 2007. It occurs off the coast of Texas, where the Brazos river empties into the Gulf.


Dead zones can also be caused by climate change. Increases in ocean temperature can change the course of currents, isolating certain areas from influxes of deeper, colder water. As the water in the area sits, it warms and releases its oxygen, making it inhospitable to many aquatic species. Three major dead zones are known to have been caused by climate change: one off the coast of Chile and Peru, one off the east coast of Africa, and another off of Africa's west coast. A new dead zone was reported off the US west coast in 2002. It occurs seasonally and is believed to be part of a continuum of South America's dead zone.

NOAA scientists teamed up with researchers from the University of Miami and The Billfish Foundation to study the West African dead zone and its effect on fish species.

Article continues: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1229-morgan_dead_zone.html

Growing Atlantic dead zone shrinks habitat for billfish and tuna, may lead to over-harvest

A dead zone off the coast of West Africa is reducing the amount of available habitat for Atlantic tuna and billfish species, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a study published in Fisheries Oceanography. The zone is growing due to rising water temperatures and is expected to cause over-harvest of tuna and billfish as the fish seek higher levels of oxygen in areas with greater fisheries activity.


Dead zones are areas of the ocean which are too low in oxygen to support many marine species. There are about 400 of these "hypoxic" regions throughout the world, many caused by human activities. Perhaps the most notorious, the New Jersey-size dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is caused by fertilizer runoff released by the Mississippi which encourages oxygen-depleting algae to proliferate out of control. Another dead zone was discovered in 2007. It occurs off the coast of Texas, where the Brazos river empties into the Gulf.


Dead zones can also be caused by climate change. Increases in ocean temperature can change the course of currents, isolating certain areas from influxes of deeper, colder water. As the water in the area sits, it warms and releases its oxygen, making it inhospitable to many aquatic species. Three major dead zones are known to have been caused by climate change: one off the coast of Chile and Peru, one off the east coast of Africa, and another off of Africa's west coast. A new dead zone was reported off the US west coast in 2002. It occurs seasonally and is believed to be part of a continuum of South America's dead zone.

NOAA scientists teamed up with researchers from the University of Miami and The Billfish Foundation to study the West African dead zone and its effect on fish species.

Article continues: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1229-morgan_dead_zone.html

Fishing nations agree slim Atlantic tuna quota cut

(Reuters) - Fishing nations agreed on Saturday to a slim reduction in quotas for catching giant Atlantic bluefin tuna, whose stocks have plunged as fishermen strive to meet demand from sushi lovers.


Ignoring calls from conservation groups for deep cuts, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) said its 48 member states, meeting in Paris, had set a 2011 quota of 12,900 tones, down 600 from this year.

An Atlantic bluefin can grow to the size of a horse and fetch as much as $100,000 in markets such as Japan, but stocks have plunged by more than 80 percent since 1970s, according to western scientists.

Environmental groups said the quota fell short of what was needed to sustain healthy stock levels, noting that illegal fishing and under-reporting of catches might mean stock estimates were over-optimistic.

"Greed and mismanagement have taken priority over sustainability and common sense," WWF Mediterranean fisheries head Sergi Tudela said.

"This measly quota reduction is insufficient to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea."

The warm-blooded bluefin tuna can weigh up to 650 kg (1,433 lb) and is found in the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean, where big commercial fishing operations fatten captured fish in enclosures.

France, Italy and Spain catch most of the Atlantic bluefin consumed in the world and 80 percent of the haul goes to Japan.

While environmental groups lamented the cut as too little, the fishing industry said it was too much.

Serge Lazarbal, head of the bluefin tuna commission at the French Fishing Committee, said his industry would have preferred the existing quota to be retained.

The European Commission had said the catch should be cut to 6,000 tones to give the fish a real chance of recovery, but the European Union's Mediterranean members shot down that proposal even before the 10-day ICCAT meeting started on November 17.

Despite the rejection of her proposal, EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said in a statement that the meeting had made "a step in the right direction for sustainable management" of bluefin tuna.

Japan championed a crackdown on illegal fishing and under-reporting, but was cautious about whether members would follow through on tougher measures to ensure quotas are respected.

"We have to do many things (on) compliance before the fishing season starts," said Masanori Miyahara, head of the Japanese delegation.

In a move welcomed by conservation groups, ICCAT members also agreed to step up protection in the Atlantic Ocean of whitetip oceanic sharks and several species of hammerhead sharks by banning their retention when they are netted with other fish.

By Leigh Thomas

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6AQ1HK20101127

Fishing nations agree slim Atlantic tuna quota cut

(Reuters) - Fishing nations agreed on Saturday to a slim reduction in quotas for catching giant Atlantic bluefin tuna, whose stocks have plunged as fishermen strive to meet demand from sushi lovers.


Ignoring calls from conservation groups for deep cuts, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) said its 48 member states, meeting in Paris, had set a 2011 quota of 12,900 tones, down 600 from this year.

An Atlantic bluefin can grow to the size of a horse and fetch as much as $100,000 in markets such as Japan, but stocks have plunged by more than 80 percent since 1970s, according to western scientists.

Environmental groups said the quota fell short of what was needed to sustain healthy stock levels, noting that illegal fishing and under-reporting of catches might mean stock estimates were over-optimistic.

"Greed and mismanagement have taken priority over sustainability and common sense," WWF Mediterranean fisheries head Sergi Tudela said.

"This measly quota reduction is insufficient to ensure the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea."

The warm-blooded bluefin tuna can weigh up to 650 kg (1,433 lb) and is found in the North Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean, where big commercial fishing operations fatten captured fish in enclosures.

France, Italy and Spain catch most of the Atlantic bluefin consumed in the world and 80 percent of the haul goes to Japan.

While environmental groups lamented the cut as too little, the fishing industry said it was too much.

Serge Lazarbal, head of the bluefin tuna commission at the French Fishing Committee, said his industry would have preferred the existing quota to be retained.

The European Commission had said the catch should be cut to 6,000 tones to give the fish a real chance of recovery, but the European Union's Mediterranean members shot down that proposal even before the 10-day ICCAT meeting started on November 17.

Despite the rejection of her proposal, EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said in a statement that the meeting had made "a step in the right direction for sustainable management" of bluefin tuna.

Japan championed a crackdown on illegal fishing and under-reporting, but was cautious about whether members would follow through on tougher measures to ensure quotas are respected.

"We have to do many things (on) compliance before the fishing season starts," said Masanori Miyahara, head of the Japanese delegation.

In a move welcomed by conservation groups, ICCAT members also agreed to step up protection in the Atlantic Ocean of whitetip oceanic sharks and several species of hammerhead sharks by banning their retention when they are netted with other fish.

By Leigh Thomas

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6AQ1HK20101127

Battle lines emerge in bluefin tuna battle

PARIS (AFP) – A meeting on the fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna got into its stride on Thursday as Europe mulled a call for a modest cut in catches and Japan said it would propose a fishing ban on nations that cheat.


At stake is the viability of billion-dollar fishery for the open-water predator and perhaps even the species' long-term survival, say conservationists.

Industrial-scale fishing using huge trap-nets during spawning season has drastically reduced stocks in the Mediterranean over the last three decades.

Nearly 80 percent of each year's catch is shipped to Japan, where it is a hallowed part of the national diet, eaten raw as gourmet sushi and sashimi.

The 48-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting in Paris until November 27, sets the rules and quotas for Atlantic fisheries and monitors compliance.

European Union (EU) nations, overcoming internal divisions, agreed late Wednesday to push for a "stable or partially reduced quota".

European fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki, backed in particular by Britain, called last month for slashing yearly quotas to 6,000 tonnes.

This is less than half of the 13,500 tonnes extracted from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean in 2010.

Fishing industry countries led by France -- including Spain, Italy and Malta -- had called for rolling over the current quotas for at least another year.

Eventually, though, all 27 member nations agreed on a proposal to "negotiate the bluefin tuna quota between its current level of 13,500 tonnes and a partial reduction", a European diplomat told AFP.

Another diplomat said the EU 27 were ready to accept a reduction of 2,000 tonnes.

Japan, meanwhile, said it would table a proposal by which countries that cheat on their quotas would be banned from fishing the following year unless they improved monitoring and enforcement measures, the daily Asahi Shimbun reported.

"Japan will take leadership in the meeting to ensure the recovery of the stock," Masanori Miyahara, the head of the Japanese delegation, told NHK television in Paris.

The United States has in the past pushed for "zero" quotas, but is under pressure from its own domestic industry, centered in Massachusetts, to ease up on restrictions to boost employment.

Going into the meeting, ICCAT Chairman Fabio Hazin said that a proposal favoured by four major green groups to suspend industrial fishing in the Mediterranean in favour of more traditional methods was under consideration.

"That is a realistic scenario," he said. "One of the things being discussed is the possible suspension of purse-seine fishing and the caging activities."

ICCAT scientists are cautious about quota numbers, saying that they could be skewed by high uncertainty about fish populations and the true tonnage of catches.

A single Atlantic bluefin tuna can fetch more than 100,000 dollars in wholesale markets in Japan. There, the fish is known as "kuro maguro" (black tuna) and prized by sushi connoisseurs as the "black diamond" because of its scarcity.

Bluefin make up less than one percent of the global tuna catch, which includes five species.


by Marlowe Hood
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101118/sc_afp/environmentfishtuna_20101118120441

Battle lines emerge in bluefin tuna battle

PARIS (AFP) – A meeting on the fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna got into its stride on Thursday as Europe mulled a call for a modest cut in catches and Japan said it would propose a fishing ban on nations that cheat.


At stake is the viability of billion-dollar fishery for the open-water predator and perhaps even the species' long-term survival, say conservationists.

Industrial-scale fishing using huge trap-nets during spawning season has drastically reduced stocks in the Mediterranean over the last three decades.

Nearly 80 percent of each year's catch is shipped to Japan, where it is a hallowed part of the national diet, eaten raw as gourmet sushi and sashimi.

The 48-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting in Paris until November 27, sets the rules and quotas for Atlantic fisheries and monitors compliance.

European Union (EU) nations, overcoming internal divisions, agreed late Wednesday to push for a "stable or partially reduced quota".

European fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki, backed in particular by Britain, called last month for slashing yearly quotas to 6,000 tonnes.

This is less than half of the 13,500 tonnes extracted from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean in 2010.

Fishing industry countries led by France -- including Spain, Italy and Malta -- had called for rolling over the current quotas for at least another year.

Eventually, though, all 27 member nations agreed on a proposal to "negotiate the bluefin tuna quota between its current level of 13,500 tonnes and a partial reduction", a European diplomat told AFP.

Another diplomat said the EU 27 were ready to accept a reduction of 2,000 tonnes.

Japan, meanwhile, said it would table a proposal by which countries that cheat on their quotas would be banned from fishing the following year unless they improved monitoring and enforcement measures, the daily Asahi Shimbun reported.

"Japan will take leadership in the meeting to ensure the recovery of the stock," Masanori Miyahara, the head of the Japanese delegation, told NHK television in Paris.

The United States has in the past pushed for "zero" quotas, but is under pressure from its own domestic industry, centered in Massachusetts, to ease up on restrictions to boost employment.

Going into the meeting, ICCAT Chairman Fabio Hazin said that a proposal favoured by four major green groups to suspend industrial fishing in the Mediterranean in favour of more traditional methods was under consideration.

"That is a realistic scenario," he said. "One of the things being discussed is the possible suspension of purse-seine fishing and the caging activities."

ICCAT scientists are cautious about quota numbers, saying that they could be skewed by high uncertainty about fish populations and the true tonnage of catches.

A single Atlantic bluefin tuna can fetch more than 100,000 dollars in wholesale markets in Japan. There, the fish is known as "kuro maguro" (black tuna) and prized by sushi connoisseurs as the "black diamond" because of its scarcity.

Bluefin make up less than one percent of the global tuna catch, which includes five species.


by Marlowe Hood
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101118/sc_afp/environmentfishtuna_20101118120441