Greenpeace: The endangered Bluefin Tuna

Posted on 5 March 2010

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has called for an international ban on trade in bluefin tuna through a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix 1 listing.

Greenpeace had this to say: “Greenpeace applauds the announcement today by the U.S. in support of an international ban on trade of bluefin tuna. This is great news for the oceans, and exactly the kind of science-based leadership we hoped for from President Obama’s administration. Bluefin tuna have been mismanaged to the brink of extinction and a ban on international trade is critical to the recovery of the species.
 
Overfishing has radically transformed our oceans. Over 90% of the large fish – including bluefin tuna – have been caught and eaten, causing changes to marine ecosystems that we have not begun to understand.  A more precautionary, ecosystem- based approach to fisheries management is needed.

A CITES listing is not management, it is a last ditch effort to prevent extinction. Greenpeace supports the call for a network of fully protected marine reserves to provide populations of fish and other marine life the resilience they will need to survive the impacts of fishing, acidification, and global warming.
 
Fishermen have been catching bluefin tuna for thousands of years, but it is only in the past few decades that this has become a threat to the species’ survival. Illegal fishing, greed, and a refusal to adhere to scientists’ recommendations about maximum sustainable catch limits have devastated the bluefin population as well as many fishing communities on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Today, bluefin caught in the Mediterranean are too small to bring to market, so they are towed to ranches to be fattened up for sale.
 
The fate of one of the world’s most spectacular creatures, a warm-blooded fish the size of a small elephant capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, will be determined this month.  An international trade ban may be the bluefin’s last chance.”

Apart from the interests and needs of the poor fish, as a recreational scuba diver I have witnessed first hand the decimation of fish stocks on reefs. Now there are very few left places in the oceans that have not been exploited if not devastated by fishermen. Why must their needs come first all the time? Why can’t scuba divers and other marine enthusiasts have some part of the ocean where they can see the underwater world in all its glory as nature intended, with big fish and big schools of fish. Why must the fishermen spoil the oceans for everyone, including future generations.

Even in South Africa’s national marine parks, such as Sodwana, fishing is allowed. There is no place in the whole country that is a true protected area for fish and their recovery and for lovers of the marine world to enjoy the underwater world in its natural state.

Our land based national parks do not allow hunting, so why do our marine parks allow hunting? Our parks should be for all to enjoy, not just fishermen.

For some useful information on other protected parks and reefs around the world that do have full protection see Dive The World Parks n Reefs.