Problems
with Conservation
Despite conservation efforts to help the
Bluefin population, there are still problems that prevent a total comeback in
this fish species. One problem that is unavoidable is that the Bluefin has a
slow growth rate with a long life span of 20 years and late age of maturity for
a fish at 4-5 years (OSPAR 1). Because it takes so long for Bluefin to reach
maturity and reproduce, it takes quite a while for fisheries to establish a
significant population of Bluefin, and in that period of time it’s very
possible that the overall population might decline even further based on
current overfishing trends.
A common problem among all conservation efforts
is that in some cases, the data collected on the target species is inaccurate
or incomplete. The Bluefin is one of these cases, because of the presence of illegal,
unreported, and unregulated (or IUU) catches – since these catches aren’t
reported or used in data, it’s impossible to really determine the full extent
of Bluefin fishing. With incomplete data, it’s hard to establish fisheries that
are truly effective and sustainable.
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| Graph from Matz, showing distribution of Bluefin fisheries worldwide. |
Another issue is that the fisheries for Bluefin are too widespread, as shown by the diagram above. Because the different stocks of Bluefins mix between Western and Eastern, overfishing one population will affect both different populations (NOAA). This means that regardless of any regulations placed on one stock of Bluefin, if there aren’t sufficiently enforced regulations on all stocks of Bluefin, the populations will be unable to rebound and recover.
While it’s easy to say that the UN or another
governing body could outlaw the fishing of Bluefin, that would also put a good
number of fishermen out of business, as the high price for a Bluefin is a
sizeable amount of their income. Furthermore, outlawing fishing Bluefin could
potentially create a black market for the species, increasing the rate of
wildlife crime and promoting an illegal market that would cost money to crack
down on and police. Environmental scientists say that the best option is to
shut down fisheries entirely to allow the Bluefin to naturally rebound
(Greenberg), but this is not economically viable because it would again put
many fishermen out of business, or encourage illegal trade (Williams).
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| A local fisherman carries a Bluefin at a port in Nachikatsuura, Japan. Photo credit to AP Photo. |
To summarize, the biggest problems with the
conservation of Bluefin tuna are that the fisheries and wild population must be
managed while simultaneously discouraging the illegal market and farms, and
ensuring that fishermen do not lose their jobs.
