As a group of friends and I sat at Station Sushi today eating the most amazing sushi for lunch, I thought about an article I had recently read in the LA Times. It was an editorial about the diminished supply of Atlantic bluefin tuna. I fact checked the information and it appears true, the bluefin tuna, the one that appears on the menus of ony the priciest restaurants is in dire straits. The population that spawns in U.S. waters has declined by 82% since the 1970's, as commercial fishing fleets have responded to plunging catches by simply fishing more intensively, as if the supply were inexhaustible.
Efforts to impose sustainable catch limits on this fish have failed miserably-for decades. Current international fisheries management has proved unable to make change, but there is a new group that may be able to save these magnificent fish. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) has a chance to step in and help in the effort to save the bluefin tuna. A proposal has been made by Monaco. We could co-sponsor this project, which would reassert our leadership in international conservation. So far, nothing has been implemented, but both sportfishing, science, and common sense tell us we can't keep withdrawing from the bank faster than we're replenishing it.
One scientist compared this problem of overfishing to thePonzi scheme of Bernie Madoff, offering constant returns from an ever-dimishing resource. Hopefully the international community will realize what is happening before it's too late. We need to protect this fish before their numbers dwindle to the point of no return. Not just for myself, a die hard sushi lover, especially tuna, but for all mankind, who has been nourished by this fish throughout history, we must protect them from extinction.
Efforts to impose sustainable catch limits on this fish have failed miserably-for decades. Current international fisheries management has proved unable to make change, but there is a new group that may be able to save these magnificent fish. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) has a chance to step in and help in the effort to save the bluefin tuna. A proposal has been made by Monaco. We could co-sponsor this project, which would reassert our leadership in international conservation. So far, nothing has been implemented, but both sportfishing, science, and common sense tell us we can't keep withdrawing from the bank faster than we're replenishing it.
One scientist compared this problem of overfishing to thePonzi scheme of Bernie Madoff, offering constant returns from an ever-dimishing resource. Hopefully the international community will realize what is happening before it's too late. We need to protect this fish before their numbers dwindle to the point of no return. Not just for myself, a die hard sushi lover, especially tuna, but for all mankind, who has been nourished by this fish throughout history, we must protect them from extinction.
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