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

Tuna is a very expensive fish for sushi restaurants and the staggering price it sells for is the main reason why more and more boats are fishing in the Mediterranean. Environmental group WWF published their report yesterday and noticed that the legal international agreement quotas regarding the number of fishing boats is higher by 35%. This is why the bluefin tunas (“floating goldmines”) are threatened with extinction because of over-fishing.

“It is crazy [...] The numerous new fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to fish illegally just to survive and worse, still, they are fishing themselves out of a job.” said WWF’s Sergi Tudela.

The quotas the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) have set are still very high but even so, the limits are being flouted. Some of the countries not declaring their full catches of tuna include Italy, Spain, Croatia and Libya.

via Reuters (picture by justaddwater2001)