Tuna tussle: How much fishing is too much?

A single piece does not cost over $20. I can get wonderful Otoro for ¥100 a slice.

"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough" William Blake Obviously, some people had to learn it the hard way.

Even if they set quotos it has been shown by the EU that its members are overfishing.

What are the fishermen to do so they can make a living???

Maybe they can organise some "Tuna watching" Tours for tourists. :P

What are the fishermen to do so they can make a living??? Especially after the extinction of the species.

The problem is not over fishing, it is that there are too many human beings on this small planet which cannot feed all of them. We waste all natural resources and eat other species into extinction and the solution that everyone speaks about is reducing waste and artificially farming our food sources when the real answer is to severely reduce the human population. I am not saying kill people but we must immediately limit the number of people that are being born and get back to say a planet with less than 2 billion people which is sustainable otherwise we will have massive world wars over food and natural resources and or go extinct. You can only put so many people on an island before you run out of space to live. Think about it.

People also look too much at Japan as a Tuna consumer but forgot how much Tuna consumption has increased worldwide due to popularity of Sushi, etc.

Yes, Japan buys a lot of Tuna but companies like "Three Diamond Tuna Cans"(Mitsubishi) were also consumed in the west for decades.

A LOT of the Tuna that Japoan buys gets exported again as high quality/authentic Tuna.

Tuna been overfished for a long time(ditto for Cod, stork, etc) and the whole world has to curb their consumption.

We all like Fish-fingers, Fish-cakes, etc the small fish that makes up the majority of those are endangered now too. Most people think those are made from Cod, etc but are wrong.

We need to refocus from a few species Tuna, Whale, Panda, etc to the bigger picture and also include species most would not consider worth preserving but consume to their extinction(shark, etc).

Honestly, if the Baby Boomers can do anything at all that would be great. By not having a plan though this just ensures there isn't a plan to recover either. Thus say goodbye to the tuna. Boomers couldn't plan a wedding at this point. So, yeah, have a meeting. Will it do anything? Of course not. Tuna needs to go extinct so that the pretty people grow up and stop killing poisoning and mulch everything on the planet for a buck. Once its gone you can have no recriminations. Congrats in advance.

Soylent Green having an odd resonance of late.

Hawkeye limiting birth rate, that sounds a bit extreme don't it (actually the Chinese have such a rule). Actually the amount of food available is not an issue (we are after all really talking about a select few prized species). In order to feed the world population enough food is being produced.. distribution of it to the needy is where things fall short.

Even if they set quotos it has been shown by the EU that its members are overfishing

Sure, and who's buying the illegally caught Tuna? Japan. This problem is 90% Japan. The vast majority of Tuna consumed in the US and Europe is Skipjack. That's a small and relatively sustainable tuna usually found in canned and frozen varieties. Look up the import numbers, In the first three months of 2009 Japan consumed 69,096 Metric Tons of Fresh Tuna (a good chuck of it imported). In all of 2008 the US consumed 12,300 Metric Tons of Fresh Tuna.

Japan is the problem, the numbers don't lie.

I get high end, very very fatty greasy blue fin otoro(belly) for as little as ¥100 a slice, and I bet no one could tell the difference between a piece that sells for 10 times that price. That is a total rip off. I am in Japan, so I must be a part of the problem too. Guess what I am eating for dinner in about 4 hours from now...yup

Still find it strange that 125mill people are responsible for 90% of the worlds Tuna consumption(know few japanese that eat tuna regular).

Yet all the Tuna & Macaroni, etc dishes worldwide account for less.

125mill vs 6 bill = LOTS of Tuna in daily meals.

Zenny11 -- the fact is that 80% of the bluefin tuna catch is consumed in Japan every year. So, by any reasonable logic, if over-fishing is going on, it can be assumed it is due to Japan's level of demand. Folks in the U.S., aren't gonna pay that high a prize for canned tuna. ICCAT has been derisively referred to as the "International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna" and they seem to be heading in that direction. And, goddog, I'm not sure I'd be so proud of being part of this problem.

Zenny - as Herefor said it's 80%+ Of Atlantic Blue Fin.

Not a % of the total tuna catch, although I believe it's about the same % for all Blue Fin.

The total consumption of world stocks by Japan is a more respectable(?) 25% or so, consumed by 125m peeps out of 6,000+m.

That is 2% eats 25% of ALL tuna & 2% eats 80%+ of ALL blue fin.

Hold on NZ and Australia catch a LOT of the Blue-fintuna and sell it to japan. They call it farming but nothing more than glorified fattening bans for the caught juvenile Tuna.

EU has a huge overfishing problem of Blue Fin Tuna too.

Tuna consumption in the USA, etc has gone up drastically over the last few years, much is bought from Japan.

I am mad for tuna...can't get enough! But if they were to impose a temporary suspension on bluefin in order for that type of tuna to replenish its numbers, thus ensuring sustainability and bluefin for many more years to come (rather than overfish and cause it to go extinct thereby having no more to eat, ever), I am all for it!

Not sure if folks are aware...there are other types of tuna out there too.

How much fishing is too much?

OK, this was now a nice summary of many opinions, but no answer to the question raised in the headline. Has the author no opinion / conclusion?

Hold on NZ and Australia catch a LOT of the Blue-fintuna and sell it to japan. They call it farming but nothing more than glorified fattening bans for the caught juvenile Tuna ...

Could you kindly prove those claims ...

Lets see NHK, Dicovery channel, etc had reports.

Also plenty of newspaper articles about the Tuna farms and how the fishermen refused to limit their catches as it made them rich.

@HAWKEYE... and exactly where did you get your 2 billion number... what eco-terrorist handbook did you get that from?... you want to limit the population?.. lets start with you!..lol

population will start limiting itself when the food choices and systems of food production are too volatile or too singularly dependent on little diversity and either suffer a blight or crash. The choice is do we do it rationally and humanely or do we let nature handle it for us. We seem too stupid to be rational anymore, politically stupid too, so the tools in the next column are now in play. Nature, your move.

The planet has limits. Even humans have limits. If we don't live within planetary limits then we're morons doing everything possible to release the hounds of nature upon ourselves.

The irony is that if we had just respected the resources around us they would replenish at their normal rate. By taking things beyond their replenishment rate we doom ourselves.

Tuna will have to go extinct simply because we are too deluded for that not to happen.

Zenny - re Hold On - my comments were about How much Japan consumes - not catches.

The facts are there, the data easily available to all. It's acknowledged by the relevant officials in Japan. There's no twisting.

As stated - simply 2% of the world(Japan) consumes 25% of the world's tuna.