As the Mediterranean’s fishing fleets were readying themselves for the opening of the bluefin tuna fishery, WWF released an analysis showing that the bluefin breeding population will disappear by 2012 under the current fishing regime.
The global conservation organisation has said that the population of breeding tunas has been declining steeply for the past decade – and will be wiped out completely in three years if fisheries managers and decision-makers keep ignoring the warnings from scientists that fishing must stop.
“Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse, and here is the data to prove it,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “Whichever way you look at it, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna collapse trend is dramatic, it is alarming, and it is happening now.
The population of tunas that are capable of reproducing is being wiped out. In 2007 the proportion of breeding tuna was only a quarter of the levels of 50 years ago.
Meanwhile, the size of mature tunas has more than halved since the 1990s. The average size of tuna caught off the coast of Libya, for example, has dropped from 124kg in 2001 to only 65kg last year. Data gathered by WWF show that this pattern has been observed across the entire Mediterranean.
The overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, use of illegal spotting planes to chase the tunas, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures disregarding scientific advice and the appetite of the world’s luxury seafood markets, have all contributed to this dramatic decline.
WWF is calling for the immediate closure of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery to give the species a chance to recover.
