Last week National Marine Fisheries Service has announced its decision to review a petition to list the Atlantic bluefin tuna as either threatened or endangered. The decision drew a harsh response from U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown, and U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, John Tierney and William Delahunt. According to Kerry this decision comes at the worst possible time for our fishermen.
He said that the federal government should be working on a meaningful international agreement to stem rampant overfishing by European countries instead of focusing on the domestic fishery, which has been tightly regulated for decades. Bluefin tuna are highly prized by the Japanese sashimi and sushi market and can net fishermen thousands of dollars per fish.
Brown said that they are looking at ways to help our fishermen get back on their feet instead of burdening our already-struggling fishing industry with even more job-killing regulations. Largely because of Europe’s lackluster efforts at reining in overfishing and bringing more accountability and enforcement into their management, the U.S. supported a failed attempt by Monaco and other countries to institute an international trade ban on bluefin.
