food

Spanish tuna tradition, a Japanese gourmet delight

15 Comments

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15 Comments
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Sometimes the old ways are the best way.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If we only catch the big ones, eventually we will have only small ones. Life finds a way...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

How many people in Japan know that they are eating an endangered species when they choose bluefin tuna from the menu?

Much more awareness and honest coverage of real issues by the media is needed in this country.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

ifd66: Did you read the article? They have made a great come back, so quotas were raised.

I love Otoro

1 ( +5 / -4 )

“We bleed the tuna to stop them suffering and to get the best quality possible,” said Rafael Marquez, a 45-year-old almadraba fisherman.

Ah, the things people tell themselves and others, and expect to be believed. If this was in order of priority, the bit about the quality would come first. And being bleed to death? Yeah. Best way to stop suffering! If I am ever killed, yeah, I hope I get to bleed to death above all other options. (facepalm)

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Much more awareness and honest coverage of real issues by the media is needed in this country.

Well that ain't ever gonna happen!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Have mixed opinions on this one. While I would love to believe that killing the tuna with knives is more "humane", I am very skeptical. Sounds too much like what the folks in Taiji say. On the other hand, I do believe:

“If the fishing were done only using almadraba, there would be as much tuna in the sea as sand on the beach.”

Good article. Makes you think, since it provides varying views.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

People always blame Japan, but have you guys counted the number of sushi restaurants outside of Japan esp. th US , Europe and China? How bout the canned tuna industry? Anywhere in the world you go, you'll always find canned tuna in supermarkets, but still choose to blame Japan eh?

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Hand of the Blue Fin Tuna until international levels are sustainable. Albacore are the spices used in caned tuna and the stock of Albacore are international sustainable. Yellow Fin Tuna and Southern Yellow Fin Tuna are at the limit of international sustainable levels and quotes should be introduce immediately. There should be no fishing of Blue Fin Tuna until international sustainable levels are reached. Tag and release in international waters for recreational fishing of Blue Fin Tuna, Yellow Fin Tuna and Southern Yellow Fin Tuna should be introduce. This is the practice in Australian waters with number increasing. The Price of Yellow fin would increase and this would allow fisherman to still maintain their trade. We have to except that we can not eat wild stocks Blue Fin for 4 Years. Farm Blue Fin Tuna can not replace the amount need but will sell for a great prices which would see the industry grow. Just that Japan is the only Country that has perfected the method of Blue Fin Tuna Farming allowing Japanese people to have some source of their favourite Tuna.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It's been proven that fish are getting smaller genetically because the big and healthy breeders are being targeted by fishermen. While this practice may have been going on for 3,000 years there is no data to prove the fish stocks are not in decline from 3,000 years ago. In fact, it would be very safe to conclude that, the demand for these fish has increased dramatically over the last century or so, which must put pressure on the population regardless of hunting techniques and quotas.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Of course there is no data about any stocks of animals that we have hunted going back 3,000 years.The biggest fishes of any spices are females. Fish turn from male to females if they are allow to grow to their maximum size. I disagree about your statements "regardless of hunting techniques and quotes. Quotes,restriction of size and restricting on techniques allow for more female and more fish stay in the natural system. The reason why fish are getting smaller in large spices is because the mass of small fish being fish out of the natural systems which is there feed stock. Why then do farmed Blue Fin Tuna grow faster and bigger quicker compared to their counterparts in the natural system. Because there is less feed in the natural system. I have worked in the fishing industry and know for a fact from first hand experience that Quotes, size restriction and changing techniques work.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Japangal - where did you get the idea that they (eastern atlantic bluefin) have made a "great come-back"?

While a moratorium and better fisheries management has seen their numbers increase from the extreme danger levels(extinction was a possibility), they are still at historically low levels and require concerted management efforts by all concerned just to maintain a level beyond critical. There is no abundance of eastern blue fin.

Greed has and is still causing enormous difficulties in keeping the whole operation sustainable.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Try finding Grand Banks cod.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That's great for Spain. But it didn't last 3000 years at the current catch rate. Meanwhile in 2013, 96% of the species was gone making it functionally extinct. Using 2007 numbers isn't working. If you keep raising the catch limit then the species can't recover since the dollar is the only thing people are interested in here. It's like FIFA with influence peddling, they'll do anything to keep it going.

As a Canadian who watched the Cod go I can understand the microcosm of industry influenced catabolic collapse here. I hope it doesn't take for the bluefin tuna to go for behaviours to change but that's where it's headed.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

In the 1980s, more than 90% of the tuna caught by the three fishing companies in the organisation was sold in Japan.

Ooakota,

And this is why Japan is responsible for the decline of tuna stocks & many other marine species!

You will find similar number wherever tuna are caught, EXCEPT Japan then the number basically 100%!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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