FYI From Science Matters by David Suzuki:
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“The bluefin tuna is large, fast, tasty, and rare. For those reasons, it’s highly prized by both commercial and sports fishers. The Atlantic bluefin often sells for more than $1,000 a kilogram. That’s pushed the fish even closer to the brink of extinction.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada recently recommended that the western Atlantic population of bluefin tuna be listed as endangered. The bluefin joins salmon, rockfish, sharks, loggerhead sea turtles, Atlantic cod, and many others on the list of at-risk marine species in Canada. Fishing was identified as a key factor in the decline of all these species. Sadly, government and industry appear to be in denial. “Our Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery is the best-managed fishery of its kind in the world today,” a Department of Fisheries and Oceans official said in response to the recommendation.
An industry representative claimed that listing bluefin tuna under Canada’s Species at Risk Act would be “just another nail in the coffin” for Atlantic fishermen. DFO opinion regarding the bluefin tuna fishery is featured on its “Sustainable Fish and Seafood” web page, with links to a series of government-funded promotional videos on the tuna. The bluefin that visit Canadian waters during summer are primarily large, mature fish that spawn in the Gulf of Mexico in May. They are caught mostly around Prince Edward Island and southwest Nova Scotia. Recent estimates show the population of spawning bluefin at around 66,000, the lowest on record, down from more than 265,000 in the 1970s.
The U.S. also targets these fish, but the government there at least admits on its website that bluefin is overfished. The U.S. is considering listing it as endangered under its Endangered Species Act. The Americans have also made other moves to protect the fish. A fishery that targets other species but that hooks bluefin tuna incidentally as bycatch must use “weak hooks” that straighten when a large bluefin is caught, allowing it to escape. Ironically, while the U.S. government is trying to figure out ways to let large bluefins escape and survive, the Canadian government is creating videos that promote capturing them.”
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