Letter to the press

Article To Press One


Blue Fin Tuna a main ingredient in sushi and other sea food dishes may not be on the menu anymore because of the amount Blue Fin Tuna that is pulled out of the sea each year. An organization called the I.C.C.A.T. published a report in 2008 that Blue Fin Tuna are being fished at a very young age before they are able to mature and mate with other Blue Fin Tuna. The report also stated that Blue Fin Tune once thought to be able to stand the impact of commercial fishing. They estimated that western Blue Fin Tuna population has dropped by 18 percent due to over fishing. Another impact on the Blue Fin Tuna is the amount that the Japanese fish from the oceans it was estimated in 2006 that Japanese where fishing up to 8 billion dollars in illegal caught Blue Fin Tuna and left the Blue Fin Tuna unavailable to rebuild their numbers. Japan uses about a quarter of the worlds Blue Fin Tuna. Because of the disregard for Blue Fin Tuna the price for the fish has gone up by 20 percent in the past year. Because of the lack Blue Fin Tuna in the ocean the average Japanese household consumption of Blue Fin Tuna dropped by 20 percent. To make matters worse the amount of consumption increased by western countries and China. In the United States the demand for Blue Fin Tuna has risen in the last year. Over the past year the amount has grown in 04 it was around 4 million tons and 07 it is 70 percent larger. In the West Atlantic the population of Blue Fin Tuna has its numbers have dropped by 90 percent. The future of Blue Fin Tuna is looking bleak with European Fishermen catching almost twice legal limit and the United States only reporting only quarter of what they actually catch. Scientists form the I.C.C.A.T. are reporting that to salvage the Blue Fin Tuna fishing companies should be catching half of the legal amount. It is clear that the Blue Fin Tuna are in dire need of a bailout of epic proportions if we wish to continue these majestic creatures of the sea. We need the Eastern and Western governments to put tougher restrictions on how much Blue Fin Tuna can be cached and place incentives on companies who provide accurate information on what their actual catch was and if they met the requirements on how much to catch. If we wish to continue to eat Blue Fin Tuna we not only to ask for government regulation but as the consumer we should stop consuming Blue Fin Tuna until their numbers raise to a healthy level.