Saving Seafood

‘Tuna King’ buys 608-pound fish for $1.8 million at Sunday auction in Japan

January 7, 2020 — One fish, two fish, red fish… million-dollar tuna fish.

Japanese businessman Kiyoshi Kimura, who has dubbed himself the “Tuna King,” purchased a 608-pound fish for $1.8 million at a Sunday auction.

The blue fin fetched the second-highest price in history at auction Sunday, Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK reported.

Caught in Aomori, a political region of Japan, the giant fish sold for 193 million yen — equivalent to nearly $1.8 million.

“Yes, this is expensive, isn’t it? I want our customers to eat very tasty ones this year, too,” Kimura said after the auction, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

Read the full story at the New York Daily News

Sustainable Management Means We Can Have Our Tuna and Eat It Too

December 3, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Bluefin tuna is often used as a poster species for the impacts of overfishing. But we have good news for seafood lovers eyeing bluefin sashimi at their local sushi restaurant: U.S.-caught Atlantic bluefin tuna is a sustainable food choice.

Bluefin tuna are some of the most valuable fish in the Atlantic. In 2017 alone, U.S. commercial fishermen generated an estimated $9.6 million in revenue from harvesting bluefin. That year, fishermen earned an estimated $6.45 for every pound of bluefin they harvested–more than any other Atlantic tuna.

That value may sound low to those who’ve read about bluefin selling for millions or watched popular fishing shows touting higher prices for this species. As with any product, the value of bluefin will fluctuate with demand, quantity, and quality. Commercial marketing and traditions like celebrating the first bluefin purchased each year can also drive up prices in limited situations. But the million-dollar price tags occasionally reported are far from the norm. In fact, the median value a bluefin tuna in 2018 was just over $2,000.

Atlantic bluefin tuna are also a coveted recreational species that support millions of dollars in economic value each year. A 2015 study conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences analyzed recreational anglers’ willingness to pay for bluefin tuna trips. The results showed that the private boat bluefin tuna fishery had an estimated value of $14 million that year.

Read the full release here

Report: ICCAT bluefin rules leave loopholes for IUU

November 15, 2019 — A new report, recently published on ResearchGate, has found that the current catch documentation method for Atlantic bluefin tuna used by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas leaves large loopholes that can be exploited by fishers catching more than what is allowed, allowing them to have illicit catch enter E.U. markets.

The report, funded by the WWF, is focused exclusively on the eastern bluefin tuna stock. It comes in the wake of the 2018 bluefin tuna trade scandal, which found an illicit trade network selling large amounts of illegally harvested bluefin tuna in Europe. A complex, multi-organization investigation that included the Spanish Guardia Civil and EUROPOL – dubbed Operation Tarantelo – discovered that the illicit trade of illegal bluefin tuna catch had been occurring for years. The trade involved most of the countries in the northern Mediterranean, with illegal bluefin tuna coming from Maltese farms and Italian fishing boats. One of the largest Spanish tuna farming operators, Ricardo Fuentes y Hijos, was found to be the mastermind behind the trade on the Spanish side, and used a number of companies to issue false ICCAT bluefin catch documentation. The volume of the resulting illicit trade was estimated to be around 2,500 metric tons a year, which would have represented 18.6 percent of the total quota for the E.U. in 2017.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As bluefin recover, a new fight about how to fish for them

September 30, 2019 — A federal plan that could loosen the rules about fishing for one of the most debated species in the ocean has attracted the attention of fishermen and environmentalists, some of whom fear years of conservation work could be undone.

Preservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has long been a subject of international debate, and sometimes discord. The giant sushi fish, which occasionally sell for more than $1 million and often weigh several hundred pounds, are at a fraction of historical population levels but have shown positive signs in recent years.

The federal government is considering some changes to the way the fish are managed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said some of the changes would give fishermen who use longlines, a method of fishing used to catch large fish, more flexibility by increasing their amount of open fishing area, including in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico is a critical spawning area for bluefin, and parts of it are closed down to longliners in the spring to protect the fish. Reopening it to fishing could jeopardize the bluefin stock in U.S. waters and beyond, said Shana Miller, senior officer for international fisheries conservation with the Ocean Foundation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

As bluefin recover, a new fight about how to fish for them

September 25, 2019 — A federal plan that could loosen the rules about fishing for one of the most debated species in the ocean has attracted the attention of fishermen and environmentalists, some of whom fear years of conservation work could be undone.

Preservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has long been a subject of international debate, and sometimes discord. The giant sushi fish, which occasionally sell for more than $1 million and often weigh several hundred pounds, are at a fraction of historical population levels but have shown positive signs in recent years.

The federal government is considering some changes to the way the fish are managed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said some of the changes would give fishermen who use longlines, a method of fishing used to catch large fish, more flexibility by increasing their amount of open fishing area, including in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico is a critical spawning area for bluefin, and parts of it are closed down to longliners in the spring to protect the fish. Reopening it to fishing could jeopardize the bluefin stock in U.S. waters and beyond, said Shana Miller, senior officer for international fisheries conservation with the Ocean Foundation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Houston Chronicle

Japan gets red light on bluefin plan, gains more quota from Taiwan

September 10, 2019 — Japan’s proposal to increase its bluefin catch quota was rejected by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) last week, Japan Times reported.

The annual meeting of WCPFC, which is responsible for setting Pacific bluefin catch limits, took place in Portland, US, from Sept. 4-6.

Japan and South Korea each sought a quota expansion, citing a recovery in stocks, a proposal that is opposed by conservation NGOs.

Given a recent recovery in Pacific bluefin tuna population, Japan sought a 20% expansion of its 4,882-metric-ton large bluefin tuna quota, and a 10% hike in the small fish quota of 4,007t.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Pacific Bluefin Tuna: Catch Could Increase in 2020

September 9, 2019 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Northern Committee met in Portland, Oregon, last week to discuss two proposals to increase catch limits on Pacific bluefin. Despite continued overfishing of the depleted species, the Committee recommended changes to the Pacific bluefin management measure that will lead to an increase in catch for 2020. However, The Northern Committee will need to reconvene at the WCPFC annual meeting in December to officially adopt the outcomes of this meeting, as the meeting failed to reach the required quorum due to the absence of four members.

The Northern Committee recommended that next year, Chinese Taipei be allowed to transfer 300mt of their adult catch limit to Japan. All countries will also be able to roll over up to 17 percent of their 2019 quota to be used to increase their catch of both adult and juvenile fish in 2020. This means that Japan will be able to catch hundreds of tons of additional fish in 2020 from a stock that is at just 3.3 percent of its unfished size and is just two years into a 17-year rebuilding plan.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Japan, South Korea compete to obtain higher Pacific bluefin quota at WCPFC meeting

September 5, 2019 — A rift between Japan and South Korea over increases in catch quotas for Pacific bluefin tuna is likely to put a spanner in the works at the current international conference to control tuna stocks Jiji Press reported.

The annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which is responsible for setting Pacific bluefin catch limits, is taking place in Portland, US, from Sept. 4-6.

Japan and South Korea each seek a quota expansion, citing a recovery in stocks, a proposal that is opposed by conservation NGOs.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Pew seeks US, EU help in rejecting Japanese proposal for Pacific bluefin catch increase

August 29, 2019 — From 2-6 September, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)’s Northern Committee will meet in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., with proposals from Japan and South Korea for increased Pacific bluefin catch limits on the agenda.

Pacific bluefin is in the first few years of a recovery plan, which aims to restore the stock to 20 percent of its pre-fishing levels by 2034. Japan, citing a recovery in the stock of juvenile fish in 2017 and 2018, is calling for a quota increase of 10 percent for juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna (weighing less than 30 kilograms) and 20 percent for adult tuna. Last year, the Northern Committee rejected a similar proposal from Japan that would have raised the quota 15 percent across the board.

Read the full story at Seafood Source