The giant bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is an advanced streamline predator that can regulate its own body heat to achieve bursts of speed of up to 45 mph in the water, but it is no match for the supreme global predator, man. Unfortunately for this fish, it has a firm succulent flesh that millions enjoy, so the species is being harvested into extinction. There are two remaining stocks of northern bluefin, a western one which spawns in the Gulf of Mexico, and an eastern group that spawns in the Mediterranean. The eastern group is now close to collapse due to rampant overfishing for the Japanese market. The US and Canada officially protect the western Atlantic blue fin from commercial fishing. Scientists recently discovered that there is some interbreeding between the populations, so the collapse of one threatens the other. The Japanese firm of Mitsubishi is doing something about the end of northern bluefin tuna: hoarding what tuna remains. It's definitely a cultural thing. Japanese love sushi, sashimi and all forms of sea cuisine in which tuna plays a central role. It is may be a phenomenon similar to Americans hoarding ammunition for their weapons of personal destruction. Mitsubishi is importing thousands of tuna fish and freezing it, banking on the day when northern blue fin is commercially unavailable. When that happens--no longer a question of if--the flesh will be sold for astronomical sums. A single giant tuna sold on the Tokyo fish market for more than $100,000 this century. Martin Hickman, correspondent for The Independent reports that Mitsubishi trades in 60% of the threatened fish and has expanded its freezer capacity to accommodate the unlimited catch. World Wildlife Fund forecasts that breeding stocks of Atlantic bluefin will be wiped out by 2012. The international catch limit is set at about 30,000 tons annually despite scientific advice that the limit be set a 8,500 to 15,000 tons[1]. A computer model of the species population dynamics run by the Technical University of Denmark predicts that even if hunting were banned the eastern population will probably collapse[2]. Conservationists estimate the actual catch is in the range of 50-60,000 tons annually. If this rate of harvest continues blue fin tuna will certainly go the way of the tiger.[1] International management has been so ineffective that the international body responsible for conservation, ICCAT is jokingly referred to as the 'international conspiracy to catch all tunas'. Because bluefin is a deep ocean species, its management suffers from being in a veritable no-man's land. Experts hired by ICCAT to review the management of bluefin concluded it was "widely regarded as an international disgrace."
[2] www.economist.com/background/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12502783