thanks Jerry! sad site to see. its a shame they cant have self control. money is the driving force of crime and evil.
Man.. that is some sad news because they will come after the Yellow fin when the Blue fin are all gone. Just like our Texas Red Snapper problem in the GOM .. it's all about the commercial fishing money. Bazz
National Geographic ran a special on fisheries' collapses around the world and highlighted this very thing. We are fishing (eating) ourselves out of a resource.
Its reallly sad to see how little self control people have. you would think that if they really like Bft that much they would put more $ into preserving them to make sure they can continue to harvest them for ever without depleating the population what are they going to do when they realize the fish they so deperatly seek is no longer avilable in any quantity. let alone in the quantity they are using it in now. its a shame.
People have always bowed to greed and money until someone reined them in. There is no money in preserving something. That is why you have to assign something an aesthetic value when making a ecological conservation plan. "How much is clean air worth or being able to see nature to you?" is an example which must be considered. It is finally becoming common practice in ecological conservation. However, it ALWAYS takes a back seat to money. How many people even know or care what a tuna looks like? As serious as recreational fisherman are, we are a minority in comparison to consumers of seafood. The aesthetic and monetary value of having a seafood dish is more important to the average and even wealthy person. You have two things when celebrating with people over a meal, seafood or steak. Here is a link to establishing aesthetic values to an ecological conservation plan. Trying to place a quanitative value to a qualitative concept is difficult. Bluefin are screwed! http://www.princeton.edu/~uchv/EEWorkshop/Brady.pdf
There is no money in preserving something. De Beers has done a pretty job with all the diamonds. I would bet that the human race will be depleted before the bluefins. Either by the Big One or Taxes.
at least up north, there are still a lot of small to medium sized bluefin, just not a lot of giants. They need to put a moratorium on them for 5-10 years and see how that works, like what they did with stripers.
It looks like the problem is with ICAAT, in conjucting to people eating sushi if you go to a sushi restaurant or eat a swordfish steak from central market you are doing the same thing, to an extent. Those fish we eat in restaurants and supermarkets werent caught with a rodnreel, unless you supply it. The Tokyo fish market has always been one of the places i want to see. And to think we can only keep a little bit of fish. Great story by 60 mins. Thanks for sharing.
Two springs ago I had to go to the Cannary Island of Tenerife for 3 weeks to close a power station project out. Along the coast I saw several locations with corrals for sea farming. I did not relise they were Tuna corrals until after talking with a Britt at a pub who ran dive charters. In the attached Pic the boats at the base of the cliffs are tending to one of these corrals. For years as I have worked around the world one of my tourist type things to do is go to the local fish markets. Lots of fish I know and others I haven't a clue what they are. Some markets are in doors and modern some out side under tents some just baskets on the back of bikecycles always of intrest though.
I have seen them towing pens from lower baja to San Clemente to fatten the bluefin. When we finally got on a school of bluefin a spotter chopper hovered above us to push the fish down. The chopper might have been 50 feet above us. It blew sardines out of the bait well! They are aggressive! btw, the photo above is beautiful!
Thanks for sharing. Wiping out a breeding school is a scary thing when it comes to preserving fish stocks.
