Thanks to the senseless human activity and excessive greed, the days for one of the ocean’s largest and fastest predators are numbered. Bluefin tuna populations have been rapidly shrinking in the Atlantic and the experts at WWF predict that if fishing of this depleting breed is not completely halted during the breeding season, in a mere matter of 3 years, they’ll probably disappear.

The Bluefin tuna spawns only from the age of four and the current fishing patterns, they will be wiped out by 2012, “thanks” to a very high demand in the Japanese market as a sushi delicacy.

While a growing numbers of restaurants and retailers including Carrefour’s Italian supermarkets are boycotting, illegal fishing and the greediness to make more cash each year are surely proving to be the death knell for the Bluefin.

Racing in the oceans at the speed of a sports car, is apparently not enough for the Bluefin tuna to escape a tragic future. Something HAS to be done, NOW! [via Reuters]

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Some key tuna species, are under threat from overfishing in SE Asia’s diverse Coral Triange region. The World Wildlife Fund is calling for a drastic rethink to stave off collapse. Indeed, we’d better save the coral, feeding the people be dam ….! The bluefin and bigeye tuna are overfished says the WWF.

The Coral Triangle is bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor containing migratory routes for up to 89% of the world’s tuna catch.

Last week, Spain and Japan decided to close down bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean meaning they will be heading for the Coral Triangle thinks the WWF. “Representatives from the six Coral Triangle nations, fishing companies and WWF are meeting in the Indonesian capital until Thursday to discuss ways of curbing overfishing in the area.”

The bluefin tuna is prized for sushi and sashimi. Yum! Either we don’t have enough food or we have too many people. What’s a triangle to do? – via Sina

For a sushi fan like me, that would do anything for a bite of tuna, be it rolls (sashimi or whatever comes out from the chefs’ knives) these days, the fact that the Atlantic giant bluefin tuna is an endangered species kind of shocked me. And it does, because I never even considered that the fish I’m serving could go extinct in the next few years.

But let’s make sure we’re clear on that one, because you shouldn’t stop eating tuna. You should stop eating the Western Atlantic giant bluefin tuna because stocks on a global basis are severely over-fished. Usually the bluefin tuna is a very large fish, with a big mouth and a robust cigar-shaped body that can live for 30 years and reach incredible weighs and lengths. The record is 680kg and 4.3 meters long.

Obviously, due to overfishing (usually commercial fishermen using purse seine gear) the bluefin tuna only grows one meter long and only weighs 35 kg. It’s money that drives all these people because I’ve heard that a single giant tuna can exceed $100,000 at the Tokyo fish market …

So what can be done, knowing that the giant bluefin tuna provides most of the tuna used in sushi, because if we don’t change something there won’t be any fish to put on rice?

1. Ask your sushi chef if what they serve is bluefin tuna, and if yes don’t order it. Tell the chef that it’s a critically endangered species.

2. Go to SaveTheBluefin.com which is a social network started by John LoGioco. Their putting everything in to help save the Atlantic Bluefin tuna. I’m am a member already. They are supporting a science group called Tag-A-Giant with donations and everything else that will help satellite tagging of the blue fin tuna so that nations can manage on a eco system basis and not a national basis.

What do you say?

Images courtesy of 1, 2