According to analyses by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua) and University of New Hampshire the extinction of bluefin tuna is not far as the species is highly valued as sushi and so it is being overfished in Europe. It is said that the species in the Mediterranean Sea and northeast Atlantic is caught by fishermen from many countries, particularly France, Spain and Italy.
The result of such rampant fishing is that there are fewer tuna left in the sea, and those that are left are younger and smaller. In 2006, the organisation that manages bluefin tuna fisheries (ICCAT; International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) launched a recovery plan whose main objective is to rebuild the population by 2022. Rebuilding would be achieved by gradually lowering fishing quotas between 2007-2010 and implementing other fishery regulations.
But the management plan is however insufficient to stop the population from getting even smaller in the coming years. Professor Brian MacKenzie, National Institute of Aquatic Resources at The Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua), explained that their calculations show that the present recovery plan has little chance of reaching its goal and will not be able to protect the population in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean from declining even further. The population is presently at its lowest level ever, and the adult biomass has fallen 10 years in a row. Every year we set a new record low.
Professor Brian MacKenzie, DTU Aqua, pointed out that new regulations and measures need to protect the fish that are still left in the wild. This will mean a substantial reduction of both fishing mortality and fishing effort, plus the political will to implement and enforce new regulations. The scientists have calculated how the bluefin tuna population will develop under the recovery plan – assuming that the existing quotas are enforced, and assuming that the illegal landings continue at recent levels.
