Bluefin Tuna Faces Extinction

Editor's Note

Here is a disturbing article about the Bluefin Tuna. 

The bluefin tuna, prized for producing the world’s best and most expensive sushi, is facing extinction through overfishing by French and Spanish fleets, scientists have warned.

The iconic species is renowned for its ability to accelerate faster than a Porsche, but has proved unable to escape the giant nets and lines of southern Europe’s tuna fleets.

They have spent the past 10 years hunting the remnants of what was once one of the Atlantic’s most common marine predators, flouting quotas and disregarding scientific warnings, say the researchers.

In a review they have described the management of the Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery as an “international disgrace” and warn that the species is facing a population crash from which it may never recover.

Bluefins can reach nearly 1,500lb in weight and are renowned for their fighting ability when caught on rod and line. They are so large that the killer whale is the only marine predator to hunt them.