The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has announced it will start an official review for Atlantic bluefin tuna under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The decision to consider an ESA listing for bluefin is in response to a request by the Center for Biological Diversity, the same group now spearheading a national lead ban for fishermen.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where many of the bluefin tuna caught in the western Atlantic Ocean spawn, bluefin tuna may be endangered in the future, which they say warrants an official ESA listing. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which together with NMFS helps administer such rulings, ESA is defined as protecting endangered and threatened species and their habitats by prohibiting the "take" of listed animals, along with interstate or international trade.
Additionally, ESA defines 'take' as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct." Such a definitive listing would summarily eliminate the recreational catch and release fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna, and could also impact other coastal fisheries where bluefin might be harassed, captured or harmed as a bycatch fishery.
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