Tuna in peril as catches reach triple the limit

[n2doc]

TIMES are tough for tuna. The guidance of scientists that advise groups that manage tuna stocks is falling on deaf ears.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meets this week in Brazil to set catch limits. ICCAT's scientific advisers have told it that stocks of the giant bluefin tuna are plummeting towards collapse. Catches in 2008 were at three times the ICCAT limit, which is itself more than what its scientific advisers consider sustainable (see "Tigers of the sea"). "It's like the year before the collapse of the northern cod," says Dan Pauly at the University of British Columbia, Canada. In 1992 the Newfoundland cod fishery collapsed. It never recovered.

As stocks fall in the Atlantic, the tuna fishing fleets are targeting the Indian Ocean. So far, stocks of several tuna species there appear in good shape, with the exception of the yellowfin. According to the scientists advising the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), stocks of yellowfin are being overfished. The panel of scientists will meet later this month to discuss the available data, but it may prove futile: the IOTC's member nations rejected the panel's recommended catch limits in April. And in September, India launched a new ocean-observing satellite. It will be used to spot plankton blooms, which attract small fish and, in turn, tuna - so the fishing boats will know where to go.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427344.400-tuna-in-peril-as-catches-reach-triple-the-limit.html

[NOW tense]

1. Gorge yourselves humankind...

Gobble up all the living beings on Earth, before they are gone.

[wuvuj]

12. Then...please....do the right thing...start nibbling on yourselves?

...just a small bite here and there will get you started.

[The2ndWheel]

2. I love when we set these limits

We're the species that wants access to unlimited amounts of unlimited energy, but we think we can limit ourselves.

[msongs]

3. our household no longer eats "sea food" - or much meat at all. cheaper, healthier nt

[elocs]

4. There was an interesting call-in program on WI Public Radio about consuming fish that are actually

carnivores (they eat other fish) such as tuna and salmon that take years to grow to the size when they are caught. The meats we most commonly eat, beef, pork, chicken, are not carnivores. Also these fish may be years old when caught and so they are not easily replaces. It mentioned about the North Atlantic is getting fished out so fishing rights have been purchased near Africa and the problem is that there is no reason to believe that the same thing would not happen there. In some areas of the world there are people, usually poor people, whose diet depends upon catching and eating fish.

[n2doc]

7. The other thing is- they reproduce late in life

And # eggs are proportional to size of fish. So when we remove all the largest fish, we are removing the base of their reproductive cycle. This is one big reason why the populations of these fish crash so fast- there is a sudden drop off in replacement which is not seen until the last generation is fished out. Then nothing.

[ensho]

5. I've seen this attitude in the Fl. Keys for decades: eat it until its gone

f--k fishing limits. f--k catching only in specified times.

I'll be dead when its all gone so eat it now attitude.

[excess_3]

6. let's help undeveloped countries ...

let's help undeveloped countries
buy more powerful fishing boats.

(that is what really happens)

[hatrack]

9. Reminds me of a school charity program I read about one time

The well-meaning kids of a North Dakota junior high school were raising money to send goats to Haiti.

Which is more than a little like raising money to send gasoline to a house fire.

:eyes:

[Spoonman]

8. Clamp down on the Japanese and the in vogue sushi craze!

http://www.worldfishingtoday.com/news/news.asp?nyId=4324

"It is fact that Japan consumes 80 percent of the world's bluefin tuna catch and it has long resisted any push to cut quotas around the globe."

I assure you the majority of the Atlantic Tuna fleet is Japanese owned as well.

[Nihil]

10. Hush your mouth!

There are bound to be "cultural reasons" why they can't cut back
so all they'll end up doing is re-badging that fishing fleet as
"scientific research" too ...

:eyes:

[Nihil]

11. Woohoo ... way to go dumbfucks!

Action:

> According to the scientists advising the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC),
> stocks of yellowfin are being overfished.

and reaction:

> the IOTC's member nations rejected the panel's recommended catch limits in April.

and just to gold-plate their environmental concern:

> And in September, India launched a new ocean-observing satellite. It will
> be used to spot plankton blooms, which attract small fish and, in turn, tuna
> - so the fishing boats will know where to go.

There's nothing quite like the application of technology to REALLY fuck things up
even faster than mere persistent human stupidity has managed it to date ...

:argh: