Scientists Call For Drastic Changes As Bluefin Tuna Populations Collapse

[hatrack]

LONDON - "Scientists called on Wednesday for tighter commercial fishing restrictions to protect dwindling stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna. An electronic tagging study of the ocean predators by researchers at Stanford University in California and the Monterey Bay Aquarium identified two populations of Atlantic tuna and the need for an overhaul of how they are managed.

"In my lifetime we've bought this majestic species to the doorstep of ecological extinction in the western Atlantic Ocean," said Barbara Block of Stanford University. "Electronic tagging provides the best scientific information we've ever had to properly manage these tuna and we must, as an international community, start to act responsibly to ensure the future of this species," she added.

Bluefin tuna are among the biggest bony fish in the sea. They can live up to 30 years old, grow to 10 feet (3 metres) long and weigh 1,500 pounds (680 kg). They are a popular fish in restaurants around the globe but a particular delicacy in Japan where the price of a single giant tuna exceeded $100,000 at a Tokyo fish market.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which has managed the bluefin stocks since 1969, estimates that the western population of bluefin tuna which spawn in the Gulf of Mexico, has declined by more than 80 percent since the 1970s. The eastern stock has also dwindled."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30597/story.htm

[bloom]

1. has anyone tried to get warning labels on tuna?

esp. for pregnant women/women considering having children/young children?