…with a light chardonnay jus, to really bring out that gamey, endangered flavour.
Or maybe some gorilla sashimi.
There is no denying this: Most species of tuna are endangered; the rest are heading that way rapidly.
Atlantic and Mediterranean Bluefin tuna – the most popular sashimi tuna – and sold nearly exclusively in the fresh seafood market, are critically endangered; experts predict only a three years left before they become extinct if fishing continues at today’s rates. See this great article from Nat Geo, beautifully written and photographed. (Don’t miss their safe seafood page with some great advice on what to eat)
Yellowfin, big-eye and albacore tuna are all endangered, with the general scientific consensus that they are being unsustainably fished everywhere in the world.
The tuna most commonly found in tins is skipjack tuna, which is still considered to be fished at sustainable rates – for now. Accurate numbers are very hard to obtain for both catch size and remaining stock size and although they seem to be within limits that allow a net increase this can change rapidly as a result of other environmental factors.
So tinned tuna is still OK to eat right. Well…
Remember years ago when dolphin friendly tuna started appearing on the shelves – did anybody check out what that was all about?
In the East Pacific (and a few smaller, scattered locations around the world), yellow-fin tuna have an odd and little understood habit of schooling with large pods of dolphins. Thus, people searching for these tuna would simply keep an eye out for a pod of dolphins – easily spotted swimming near the surface to breathe – and give chase. They send out a number of small dingys which chase encircle and chase down the pod for 20 or 30 minutes until they slow, exhausted. They then surround the dolphins and tuna in the large ‘purse-seine’ net and pull it closed capturing both species. At this point the fishermen try to release the dolphins, but there was a very high mortality rate. It is estimated that in the range of 8 million dolphins were killed between the sixties and the eighties.
Then public outcry forced a change on the fishermen.
Unfortunately the change is not as good as we are lead to believe.
Some, carried on just as they were and simply sold the tuna to countries who did not care about the fishing methods. In 2007, 12% of the global catch of yellowfin, skipjack and big-eye tuna were caught in the East Pacific; 60% of these fish were caught using the method described above. The only difference is that they improved the techniques for releasing the dolphins alive. Apparently these techniques have been very successful, but the statistics can never be completely accurate; and regardless, many people argue that the stress from being chased and caught, even if released, is still unacceptable. I would have to agree.
The rest turned to ‘dolphin safe’ methods of fishing – this is primarily using FADs or Fish Aggregation Devices; fishermen would leave a small floating construction for a certain period of time (or search for natural debris) which tuna are drawn to and school around. The fishermen then encircle the FAD with a purse-seine net and catch everything swimming around the FAD. Herein lies the problem. Not only tuna are drawn to these FADs.
Many other, unwanted, species of fish, as well as undersized tuna, sharks, rays, even occasional turtles and dolphins are swept up in these nets and discarded, dead, as bycatch.
And not in small numbers. The worst estimate by the Environmental justice foundation (via this article on allaboutwildlife.com) says that for every dolphin saved by dolphin friendly methods (FADs) 25 000 undersized tuna, 27 sharks and rays, 382 mahi mahi, 180 wahoo (who comes up with these names…) 82 yellowtail or other large fish, 1 marlin or sailfish and over 1000 triggerfish or other smaller fish die and are discarded.
Another statistic by Greenpeace is that for every 10 kg of tuna caught using FADs, 1 kg is discarded as bycatch.
And this is what we have been buying as dolphin friendly tuna. Sure the dolphins may be recovering, but at what cost. the same Greenpeace report examined the fishing practices of UK tinned tuna companies and found John West to be the worst, saying that not only do they place no restrictions on the use of FADs, but buy tuna fished from areas where the stocks are dangerously low. The best, Sainsburys (not that it helps us here at all) which only sells tuna caught by pole and line (not to be confused with long line which is an indiscriminate and devastating killer of sharks, rays, turtles etc etc…)- the method agreed by everyone to be the only way forward for the tuna industry.
There is significant experimentation with fish farming and well managed, properly situated, closed system farms are an excellent solution, but as yet, it is often a process with serious flaws. Farmed fish are genetically less varied that wild fish stock and as such as highly susceptible to disease, and at the same time, these farms can produce large amounts of waste products which are released directly into the surrounding waters, polluting them and causing diseases in other fish. The farmed fish are often carnivores and are fed wild fish – it takes 3kg of fish to produce 1 kg of farmed salmon… Sometimes, these fish are farmed in habitats where they are not naturally occurring and frequently escape into the wild and wreak havoc on a defenseless ecosystem.
How well pole and line fishing will work economically I don’t know. There are massive fleets providing thousands of jobs and these jobs continue up the line. It is a big industry. Jobs may be lost, but it seem to me to be a damn sight better than a collapse of the fishery and thus the industry resulting in complete job loss.
Excessive regulation and strict monitoring of catch and bycatch, driven by a demand for sustainable fishing methods by consumers is the only way forward for these species. Some may be closer to the brink than others, but it is just a matter of time before short-sighted economic greed racks up another blank spot on our living landscape.
I’ll end with a chilling figure – scientists estimate that with the advent of industrial fishing and careless by-catch, we have removed 90% of large predatory fish from the sea, sharks, swordfish, cod etc.
Visit the Monterey Bay aquarium website, Seafood watch, for some good material on these issues and good lists on what to eat and what to avoid – though these are mostly aimed US consumers.
You can find a more comprehensive listing for various regions around the world here at overfishing.org
If nothing else, visit this great site by WWF and SASSI (South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) for a list of fish to buy, and those to avoid. They also provide a list of restaurants who are registered SASSI participants and who follow their good practice guidelines.
