The international commission that sets fishing limits for tuna and other large migratory fish is meeting in Brazil. The commission faces a depressing reality: the bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean is headed toward commercial extinction. From time to time, the commission has marginally reduced the allowable catch, but never by as much […]
A fisherman unloads a sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna from a small boat at the General Santos Fish Port Complex on Mindinao island in the southern Philippines on Aug. 11, 2009. Hand-line fishermen in General Santos bring in some of the best quality — and most expensive — tuna that goes on sale in the large fresh […]
By Lewis Smith Attempts to save the bluefin tuna from extinction suffered a serious setback yesterday when the European Union dropped its demand for commercial fishing of the species to be banned. A rearguard action by Mediterranean fishing nations, including Spain, Italy and France, blocked moves to get the European Union to support a worldwide […]
By MARIAN WILKINSON ENVIRONMENT EDITOR ENVIRONMENT groups are calling for a permanent ban on ”deadly” artificial fishing devices used to attract huge tuna catches in the Pacific after scientific reports found that stocks of bigeye tuna are collapsing. Greenpeace activists aboard the Esperanza confiscated several of the devices known as FADs (fish aggregation devices) in […]
Confidential papers show how fishing boats in the region routinely fail to follow regulations put in place to protect tuna stocks By David Adam, Environment correspondent, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 Measures to protect dwindling stocks of bluefin tuna fish in the Mediterranean have failed to curb illegal fishing practices, leaked papers show. The Guardian […]
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent The last chance to save one of the most majestic fish in the sea is on the verge of collapse because of political jockeying in Europe. A proposal to ban the sale of bluefin tuna is being fiercely opposed by Malta, the capital of the lucrative global business, and […]
Large-scale fishing imperils staple of sushi bars the world over, group says BANGKOK, Thailand – Environmentalists want tougher restrictions on the industrial-scale fishing of bigeye tuna in the Pacific Ocean after new research showed current measures are failing and will do little to sustain stocks of a fish that is popular in sushi bars the […]
By Guy Dinmore Like bovine torpedoes, a trapped shoal of bluefin tuna, some two metres long, swirl in ever decreasing circles within the “chamber of death” as an intricate maze of nets closes around them. The signal is given and the mattanza – slaughter – begins. Two dozen Italian fishermen on longboats haul the final […]
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Japan’s sprawling Mitsubishi conglomerate has cornered a 40 per cent share of the world market in bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most endangered fish. A corporation within the £170bn Mitsubishi empire is importing thousands of tonnes of the fish from Europe into Tokyo’s premium fish markets, despite stocks […]
By Jeremy Hance A few weeks into the bluefin tuna fishing season and Turkey has decided to go it alone. Breaking international agreements, the Turkish government has announced that it will ignore agreed-upon bluefin tuna quotas. The news is not good for the survival of the critically-endangered fish species, since Turkey operates the largest Mediterranean […]
