Sushi popularity means bad news for tuna, WWF warns
The popularity of sushi is sending tuna stocks into a downward spiral, says the World Wildlife Fund, warning that Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna will go extinct if commercial fishers continue hooking them at current rates. “The fishery is running out of control,” WWF says in a new report. To keep up with ravenous sushi-eaters and other tuna chompers, fisherfolk are exceeding the legal catch quota set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas by more than 40 percent, with an estimated catch of over 50,000 tons in 2005. WWF recommends shutting down commercial fishing for bluefin and implementing a recovery plan and management measures within the year in order to save the species. The European Union is also preparing a temporary ban on anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay because of depleted stocks. But really, who eats anchovies anyway?
