Big Eye Tuna Stocks Depleting Worldwide

Big eye tuna, a prime source for Japanese restaurants worldwide
serving sushie and sashimi are on the verge of collapse from
overfishing, a report said. A collapse would have a profound effect on
fishing fleets as well as on processing and trading industries in Japan
and Taiwan according to Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, which is
partly run by a conservation group.

Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Maldives, which have artisanal
fleets and provide processing centers for large fish vessels could also
be affected. Scientists demand a sharp reduction in the catch of the
big eye tuna but over the past decade the advice has been ignored
according to the International Marine Program of a conservation group.

Member countries of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries
Commission were enjoined to agree on a fourteen percent cut in fishing
before its too late, ahead of their forthcoming meeting in this regard
to be held in Guam.

Organizations which regulate fishing on the high sea have been
generally very slow to respond to scientist’s advice and have failed to
address the problem of overfishing of the big eye tuna, the study said.
Campaigners had said that stocks of the blue Mediterranean blue fish
tuna, another staple of Japanese cuisine, were facing exhaustion due
also to overfishing.