Japan Says It Will Ignore A Ban On Bluefin Tuna

[G_j]

(these are truly remarkable and beautiful fish!)

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/japan-says-it-will-ignore-a-ban-on-bluefin-tuna/


Japan Says It Will Ignore A Ban On Bluefin Tuna

Japan has announced that it will ignore a ban on international trade of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. This will likely be a hot topic when the meeting of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) takes place in March.

The bluefin tuna is the foundation for one of the most profitable fisheries in Japan. The country also uses the fish for a pricey sashimi delicacy. Unfortunately, the bluefin tuna is also one of the world's most endangered fish species, found on Greenpeace's red list.

Bluefin tuna are collected from fish farms and killed when they are still too young to mate. Their slow sexual maturity might mean the end of the bluefin tuna, unless the world's nations come together to protect this valuable species at the CITES CoP15 next month.

A representative from Japan has said they don't believe bluefin tuna is endangered "to that extent." They insist the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) should be the one to moniter the bluefin tuna population, instead of CITES. (Perhaps this is because when a species is added to the CITES list, it is not removed.) Does Japan not know that 60,000 tons of bluefin tuna are fished each year, when the legal limit is only 22,000 tons? This makes the bluefin tuna grossly overfished, and the only way to prevent its imminent extinction might be a worldwide ban.

Suspiciously, Japanese company, Mitsubishi, who controls 35-40 percent of that 60,000 tons of bluefin tuna stock, has been accused of hoarding thousands of bluefin tuna. Conservationists think Mitsubishi might be trying to corner the market, so if and when bluefin tuna become extinct, the price will skyrocket and they will turn an obscene profit.
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[SpiralHawk]

1. Killer Whales Say They Will Ignore Ban on Japanese

[ensho]

2. Japan is running scared about their food problem

they have always relied on the sea for a lot of their food. they have strayed from local food production (crops) and are just now beginning to get the people to realize they have to change their eating habits and to start gardening again.

[SpiralHawk]

5. They need A One-Straw Revolution

Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer who developed what many consider to be a revolutionary method of sustainable agriculture. He is also the author of "The One-Straw Revolution" and several other books examining both his philosophy and his method of farming.

http://fukuokafarmingol.info/

[Mojorabbit]

16. One of my most prized books. nt

[ensho]

20. how interesting - thanks for the info

nt

[HopeHoops]

3. Gee, what a shock.

[Coventina]

4. So what do they do when they eat the last one?

The ignorance and short-sightedness of the human species is profoundly depresssing.

Sometimes, I wish we would dumb ourselves out of existence. The planet would be grateful.

[ThomWV]

6. I could take you fishing today and catch one

They are far from extinct. I would not be legal, but you and I could go out on my (small) boat today and catch one if we were lucky, and if we fished two or three days it wouldn't require any luck at all other than that the weather cooperate. Right this minute if you went out of Hatteras Inlet and took a left, then steamed up to the light tower, and then shut it down and chunked you'd be in Bluefin pretty quick. You'd be within 20 miles of shore and you could do it with commonly available conventional fishing gear from a boat that you towed down there on a trailer. Its really no big deal.

That said there are one hell of a lot less Tuna, of all species, not just the Bluefin, than there were in the past - and I mean even the quite recent past. This overfishing has to stop, buy commercial as well as recreational fishermen and women. Tuna are not the only fish in trouble either. Bill fish of all sorts are in grave peril and of course sharks are treated without mercy by idiots everywhere.

[Coventina]

9. That is heartening to hear, but I'm still gravely concerned, particularly

about some of the other species I've heard that are in trouble like Orange Roughy.

From what I've read, they take about 20 years to reach maturity, and the way they are being fished right now is going to wipe them out in the near future.

Do you have any info about this situation? (I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely asking someone who seems to have better knowledge than I).

[ThomWV]

19. Not taken as snarky at all

I haven't kept up my Tuna permit, I let it go about 3 years ago when I quit fishing worth mentioning. My knees can no longer take the ride on a small boat in heavy seas - its just that simple.

Anyway I followed the depletion of stocks closely for years and the story is a horror show. Its roots are so deep and its a grand case of people voting against their own interests, international intrigue too.

There is no reason to retell the tale though, its overfishing short and simple. The situation in the fishery is abysmal. The best day you could hope for fishing today would have been a bad day 20 years ago, and in some places today there simply is no fishing at all. By the way, my fishing goes way back and when I tell you that fishing in the Florida Keys in the 50's was good, or in the Everglades for that matter - where I fished like a fool until the mid 70's. Then I took up off shore fishing and the big predators. So I've fished from the nurseries to the top of the food chain, and I have to tell you - its bad every inch of the way. Maybe its realtors, maybe its lack of coastal planning, maybe its greed on the part of commercial fishermen, maybe is the sport type like myself, maybe its Humpty Dumpty, but its a problem that has probably already fallen off the cliff of repair ability.

Do I support a complete ban? On a species by species basis, I sure do. Start with the Sharks and Billfish, then move to the Tunas (which are the most valuable of fishes). But most important to my mind is reclaim the hatcheries and get the hotels off of what should be mangroves.

[redqueen]

10. Experts seem to think that a total ban is necessary.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1115-hance_iccat.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bluefin-tuna-stocks-threatened-cites-japan-monaco

So although they may be far from extinct, the problem is very grave, and simply stopping the overfishing apparently may not be enough.

The scientists are, of course, being ignored.

[G_j]

12. I agree

and a lot of people will be unhappy to find out Bluefin is the most popular Sushi tuna. Such is life.

[Goldstein1984]

11. We are dumbing ourselves out of existence

Look no further than Congress or the recent Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen for evidence.

Life on Earth did fine for hundreds of millions of years before humans evolved, and it will do just as well when we're extinct.

If life on Earth were being documented from some objective location, I suspect humankind would be viewed as an infection.

[Tailormyst]

7. Idiots.

[Toasterlad]

8. Nice To Know That America Isn't the Only Short-Sighted Greedy Asshole Country On the Planet

Way to overreach, Japan.

[flvegan]

13. Shocked to hear that a whaling nation won't adhere to a ban.

You know, the same group that put humpbacks on the kill list.

[Cetacea]

21. Hopefully "The Cove" movie will win "Best Documentary" and go viral.

It's almost a shoe-in , especially since the Orca incident at Sea World. We'll see how important "saving face" is to them.

[upi402]

14. People who get in boats and fight these guys are brave

Japan will deplete the fisheries and kill off any species it can. They care about exploiting the commons when it comes to fishing. America will pollute them to death instead.

[kctim]

15. ?

How do you "overfish" something collected from fish farms? Are they catching them in the ocean and then placing them in holding pins and calling those fish farms? Or are they actually raising them in fish farms like we do here?

[Lyric]

17. I guess they have about as much respect for tuna as they do for whales.

In other words--they respect them all the way to the dinner table, and to hell with the consequences.

[G_j]

18. Tuna at risk? Sushi chefs find other fish in the sea

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2010/02/22/with_bluefin_endangered_sushi_chefs_look_to_other_fish_in_the_sea/



Tuna at risk? Sushi chefs find other fish in the sea

By Devra First
Globe Staff / February 22, 2010

At Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, you won’t find endangered bluefin tuna on the menu. For that matter, you won’t find many traditional sushi staples. Miya’s is part of a sustainable sushi movement that’s growing nationwide.

“I don’t miss the ingredients,’’ says chef Bun Lai. “It forces me to be much more creative and search for other ingredients. In my experience, if you stick to what you actually believe in, people will follow you.’’

Tim Cushman, of o ya in Boston, does serve bluefin. His customers expect it, he says. “When you’re running a business, it’s tough. You want first and foremost to give people what they want.’’

Bluefin tuna is only the beginning of the debate when it comes to sustainable sushi. But as the fish perhaps most prized by sushi connoisseurs, it’s an important symbol.

From its belly comes toro, the fatty meat that melts in the mouth. But each bite brings the bluefin closer to extinction. The species has been catastrophically overfished, with high demand making it a lucrative catch - one bluefin sold for $177,000 at auction in Japan last month.

In October, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tu nas reported that stocks are probably below 15 percent of the historical level. The World Wildlife Fund included the bluefin on this year’s list of most threatened species.

Some restaurants are responding to the plight of this and other species. In addition to Miya’s, Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar in San Francisco, Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Ore., and Mashiko in Seattle use only species that aren’t threatened or raised in a way that could be detrimental to the environment.

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[kenny blankenship]

22. Bold talk for a country without a navy.

[TheMightyFavog]

23. A-HEM....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JMSDF

[kenny blankenship]

24. I thought it would be less shameful for them if I pretended they weren't even trying.

Bold talk for a country with a pitiful excuse for a navy that can't possibly protect its merchant fleet in blue water from an attack of hungry gulls and pissed off terns. - there, better now?