Bluefin tuna ‘on verge of extinction’

RESEARCHERS have warned urgent action is needed to save the Atlantic bluefin tuna from extinction.

Bluefins are among the biggest bony fish in the sea, and one of the most commercially valuable.

A mature fish can grow to 10ft long and weigh 680kg. The animals are consumed worldwide, especially in Japan where a single tuna can fetch €76,000.

But aggressive fishing practices have placed the species under threat, especially in the North Atlantic.

Yesterday, scientists presented data from a nine-year study of the migration patterns of bluefin tuna. Their findings suggest a major overhaul of international fishing management practices is needed if the fish is to survive in the Atlantic.

Professor Barbara Block, from Stanford University in California, USA, who led the study, said: “In my lifetime, we’ve brought this majestic species to the doorstep of ecological extinction in the western Atlantic Ocean.”

Researchers from Stanford and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California collaborated on a project which involved tagging 772 bluefins in the western Atlantic between 1996 and 2004. The study findings, reported yesterday in the journal Nature, suggest large western fish are being caught as adults in eastern waters and then mistakenly counted as part of the eastern quota. It is also likely fish of eastern origin spawned in the Mediterranean are hunted in the west as adolescents and wrongly included in the western quota.

As a result, say the researchers, both populations could suffer declines.

“There are two ways to save the Atlantic bluefin tuna stock - protect them in their breeding grounds and in their feeding grounds,” Prof Block said.