After the reporting of high levels of mercury content in bluefin tuna and other fish species brought down the selling of these fishes. The government agencies also warned the consumers not to eat these fishes as they pose health threat. It not only brought down the market of bluefin tuna but also responsible for their dwindling populations.
Now it has been observed that mere high mercury content cannot be responsible for falling of bluefin tuna populations. Commercial overfishing and a poorly constructed government regulatory program are pushing the western Atlantic bluefin population towards the verge of extinction.
Katie Renshaw, attorney with Earthjustice, said that the bluefin tuna is bad for consumers’ health. She added that the mismanagement has broken the system where commercial fishing got place to manipulate legal loopholes. This gives the commercial fishermen to exploit the bluefin on spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico when the remaining bluefin gather to breed. She argued that if stern measures are not taken now then the species could disappear forever.
Earthjustice have challenged in court the National Marine Fisheries Service’s failure to limit longline fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. It is fact that bluefin tuna spawning in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are accidentally caught by these longline vessels. And this contributes greatly to the depleting population of bluefin tuna in the area.
The organization demands that the management of these areas should be given to fisheries scientists as they have the capacity to sustainably manage bluefin fishing. It also demands to stop all catches of bluefin tuna on breeding grounds during spawning season and press for a five year Atlantic-wide moratorium on bluefin fishing.
