Bluefin Tuna Population Shrinking Rapidly

Scientists from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna announced this week that nothing short of a global fishing ban can save the bluefin tuna population of the Atlantic Ocean. According to the ICCAT, Atlantic bluefin tuna’s “spawning biomass” is less than 15 percent of what it was before industrial fishing took its toll. That decline is severe enough for the tuna to be categorized under Appendix 1 (most endangered) of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. “What’s really needed is a moratorium for bluefin,” said marine biologist and tuna expert Carl Safina. “That’s the bluefin situation.”