According to a news report Mitsubishi, the Japanese conglomerate best known for making automobiles and electronics, is being accused of helping wipe out the bluefin tuna through its efforts to corner the market on the endangered species. It is told that a subsidiary Mitsubishi is the largest importer of all bluefin caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and environmentalists have accused the company of freezing the fish in order to sell it years from now if it becomes extinct.
Scientists observed that this kind of development could come as soon as 2012. In a documentary film, The End of Line, Mitsubishi is featured. The film shows that a former bluefin fisherman travels the world monitoring catches and claiming Mitsubishi buys and sells 60 percent of the threatened fish. Mitsubishi is not the only culprit responsible for pushing the bluefin towards extinction.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which sets quotas on commercial fishing, has said that it allowed 22,000 tons of bluefin to be caught this year, even though its own scientists advised no more than 8,500-15,000 tons. According to conservationists ICCAT is termed as the “International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.” They alleged that commercial fishing operations, including those with ties to Italian mobs, often ignore commission rules.
