IUCN Classifies Southern Bluefin Tuna Critically Endangered; Spain, France Oppose Fisheries Changes

[hatrack]

The reference organisation for the conservation status of Earth's animals and plants said for the first time Thursday that most species of tuna are urgently in need of protection. Five of eight tuna species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction due to overfishing, according to the Red List of Threatened Species, compiled by the Swiss-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The report is being released ahead of a July 11-15 meeting in La Jolla, California of the world's five regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), intergovernmental groups set up to insure that tuna fisheries remain sustainable.

Southern bluefin tuna stocks have already crashed with little hope of recovery, resulting in a "critically endangered" status, the IUCN reported.

Atlantic bluefin -- with populations in both the east and west fished to the edge of viability -- is now officially "endangered." All bluefin tuna species "are susceptible to collapse under continued excessive fishing pressure," said Ken Carpenter, a professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and the head of the IUCN's Marine Biodiversity Unit.

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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Tuna_species_urgently_need_protection_IUCN_999.html

Brussels (AFP) July 7, 2011 - An ambitious European Commission plan to replenish EU fish stocks within four years was under threat Thursday after a top EU official voiced deep reservations, EU sources said. EU internal markets commissioner Michel Barnier, a former French agriculture minister, is objecting to "central parts" of a proposal to create a system for fishermen to trade quotas at the national level, an EU source said.

The idea has already upset two of Europe's biggest fishing states, France and Spain. Barnier's spokeswoman said the commissioner wants to ensure that such a scheme will be "well controlled to avoid speculation," but she denied that he was blocking the plan.

"He wants to prevent the risk of an industrialisation and concentration of fishing at the expense of the human and economic balance of European coasts," said spokeswoman Chantal Hughes.

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[dixiegrrrrl]

1. No worries about that there "fishing pressure".

BP pretty much wiped out Blue Fin Tuna nursery grounds in the Gulf of Mexico,
says here:

Spawning Habitat of Bluefin Tuna in Gulf of Mexico: Critical Area Intersects Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Bluefin tuna return to the same regions of the Gulf of Mexico during spring months to spawn. The bluefin are selecting a particular habitat along the slope waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which has unique oceanographic properties that are predictable and can be seen from satellites. Yellowfin tuna are more widely distributed throughout the warm Gulf waters and occupy the region throughout the year.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100528210726.htm