BLUE FIN TUNA IN THE MEDITTERANEAN: A HISTORY OF PLUNDER

Blue fin tuna is one of the largest fish, weighing up to 700 kilograms.  It is highly appreciated in Japanese cuisine, with the growing popularity of sushi.  For two decades, the status of this majestic fish has been worsening at a rapid pace.  Already in 1999, according to a study by Greenpeace, its population had declined an estimated 80% compared to twenty years ago.  Moreover, scientific committees alerted us to an unsustainable situation, especially regarding fishing of young tuna.

Blue fin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean is an ancient activity that was already being practiced by the Phoenicians and the Romans, and for which there are various techniques.  Since the late nineties, there has been a boom in so-called fattening: schools of tuna are located with the aid of advanced technology (radar, satellite, light aircraft...) and enclosed live in seine nets by large industrial fishing boats.  They are then towed to so-called fattening farms near the coast, where they are put in cages and fed small fish, generally caught in distant seas such as the waters of western Africa.  To generate a kilo of tuna, 25 kilos of baitfish are needed.  It is estimated that in 2004 alone, 225,000 tons of fish were fed to tuna in cages in the Mediterranean.  Turkey, for example, imports 95% of the fish utilized by its fattening farms.          

Many industrial fleets of Mediterranean countries are devoted to this lucrative enterprise.  They are mainly from France, Spain, and Italy, but fleets out of Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Lebanon, Malta, Cyprus, Tunisia and Morocco figure among them as well.  In any event, the international trade is dominated by two large Japanese multinationals, and a large part of tuna capture and fattening is concentrated in a few large fishery companies. 

It is hard to say with scientific certainty how many tuna are captured because many catches go unreported.  Some estimates indicate that 44,000 tons of tuna were captured in 2005; if so, this is 37% more than the quota agreed upon by governments, which itself exceeds the quota recommended by scientists.

Who is affected?

Aside from marine ecosystems and tuna populations, as well as future generations whose access to this food is in danger, the list of direct and indirect consequences of tuna fishing is long.  Take for example the inhabitants of West Africa, who see how the fish from their waters are transported far away and fed to tuna in cages.

Also affected are small fish populations in the Mediterranean.  For example, Croatian farms feed tuna with thousands of tons of Adriatic anchovy, which is experiencing a period of recuperation after a collapse provoked by fishing. 

Of course local fisherman are also affected.  In Spain, for instance, there have been conflicts because local fishermen have seen a decline in catches of small fish frightened off by the presence of farms.  Spanish and Moroccan almadraba fishermen - almadraba fishing is an age-old blue fin tuna fishing technique that is much more sustainable and generates employment - protested along with a group of ecologists under the slogan For blue fin tuna, for our children before nearly 500 delegates in a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, an organism responsible for the management of blue fin tuna (among other species).  They demanded a drastic policy to control the pillaging of blue fin tuna in the Mediterranean.  A representative of the fishermen stated, Almadraba fishermen are only asking for sustainability, because on it depends the livelihood of thousands of families and because a significant part of the industrial fleet is systematically violating the conservation measures for this communal resource, exhausting in a matter of years a three-thousand-year-old fishery.

Other sectors are also affected, such as tour operators in Malta who have complained about the contamination caused by tuna farms.

What are governments doing?

For now, governments continue setting quotas that are much higher than those proposed by scientists and are not taking effective measures to control all illegal fishing (above quota and undeclared catches), which is widespread.  They have awarded subsidies (more than 19 million euros by the European Union) for modernizing industrial fleets devoted to blue fin tuna fishing, contributing to overcapacity in the sector.  In fact, the total capacity of declared farms exceeds maximum permitted captures by 60%, which generates considerable inertia to exceed them. 

So what we can we do?

On the one hand, we might rethink our desire for exotic sushi and other forms of consuming blue fin tuna.  In fish stores, we should ask what species the tuna is and where it comes from.

On the other hand, we can support ecological organizations that fight for the creation of protected areas where tuna can reproduce, as well as drastic measures regarding quotas and control in light of the current situation.