Bluefin tuna stocks running low

Around Spain’s Balearic Islands, catches of bluefin tuna are down to only 15% of what they were just a decade ago. In 1995 some 14,699 tonnes were caught there, mainly by French and Spanish fleets – while just 2,270 tonnes have been fished in the same waters this year. The data on the 2006 fishing season also show that Mediterranean bluefin tuna farms – which would usually be filling up by this time of the year – have experienced substantial decline. From 2006’s catches of wild Mediterranean tuna, some 22,520 tonnes have been put in captivity and farmed, a 25% reduction compared to 30,000 tonnes farmed last year. Six Spanish tuna ranches have already ceased operating altogether because there were simply no more tuna. This data has been presented to the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, which held a special hearing on the bluefin tuna crisis.