Overfishing of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Marine Policy Project Part 2

Overfishing of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is the largest species of tuna and lives near the top of the food chain within its ecosystem. Powerful and strong, they are known to have large appetites and a varied diet which allows them to grow to an average size to about 6.5 feet long and weigh up to 550 pounds, though some specimens have been known to be much larger. These fish are highly migratory, with distribution ranging from Newfoundland and Iceland to the Atlantic coasts of Brazil and Africa. Bluefins can be most commonly found in subtropical areas of the North Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and Black Seas. The fish typically grow slowly and are relatively late to mature. There are two known spawning areas of these tuna; the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. This knowledge and improved fishing techniques have brought in higher quantity catches over the years. However, the conservation and management of the tuna hasn’t changed quickly enough along with these techniques to address the depletion of stock in the Atlantic. Over the past 40 years, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) reported a decline of 72% in the population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean stock and an 82% decline in the western Atlantic stock (NOAA(a) 2009). The bluefin population has been continuously declining for several years and despite some measures being taken to manage the population in the Atlantic, it still remains highly hunted and highly coveted due to the high demand and increasing scarcity of this fish. The species is prized by both wealthy sushi consumers due to its rich, fatty flesh and by fishermen who can sell a single catch for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Currently, this combination has brought the species to the brink of extinction, with environmentalists claiming the species has no chance to recover if existing fishing practices are allowed to continue.

Countries that fish the eastern Atlantic bluefin, particularly in the Mediterranean region, have done so at two to three times the sustainable level (NOAA(a) 2009). ICCAT has the task of managing the population of bluefin in this area. One of their policies has been to significantly lower catch quotas in recent years in an attempt to allow fisheries to recover. In its assessment of stock levels, ICCAT assumes no illegal fishing and bases perceived stocks on reported catches only. However, because of illegal and unreported fishing, the actual catch far surpasses these quotas. Declines in the bluefin population may actually be much greater than reports would indicate. According to one study, it is estimated that the quotas were exceeded by 62% between 2005 and 2011 and 77% between 2008 and 2011 (Pew(b) 2012). Because of ICCAT’s early assumption that the eastern and western bluefins were two separate