MONTEREY – International cooperation is reeling the world’s most valuable fish back from the shores of extinction.
The population of Pacific bluefin tuna ascended 1,000% between 2014 and 2022, scientists learned at a conference in June. They did not expect to reach this milestone until 2034.
“This is one of the biggest moments in sustainable seafood history,” says Matt Beaudin, executive chef at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
In response, the aquarium’s Seafood Watch upgraded some bluefin caught off the coast of California and Mexico from red (avoid) to yellow (good alternative). A yellow rating means that catching the fish has some negative environmental impact, but is not entirely unsustainable. This is the first time Seafood Watch has updated the fish’s status in the program’s 25-year history.
Such a development was unimaginable 10 years ago.
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In 2014, Pacific bluefin tuna were at their lowest levels ever. A report from an international scientific committee warned that their numbers had fallen to 2-5% of what they would be without fishing. Even more, fishermen snagged 90% of bluefin tuna before they grew old enough to reproduce, meaning that the meager population was at risk of not producing enough eggs to sustain its present, tiny levels.
Then nations around the Pacific reduced fishing quotas to give the tuna a chance to recover.
“I’m very optimistic about what we can do when we work together to solve a problem that we mutually share,” says Corbett Nash, outreach manager at Seafood Watch.
Sushi made with toro, the raw belly meat of bluefin tuna(Wikimedia)
While many ocean creatures have been overfished, bluefin tuna are uniquely imperiled because they are among the world’s most valuable seafood. In 2013, a 489-pound bluefin sold for $1.76 million in a Tokyo fish market. That’s almost $3,600 per pound.
“I’ve never had it myself,” Nash says. “But I understand from people who have that there’s nothing quite like it.”
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been a strong advocate for bluefin tuna conservation.
In 2017, it published a pledge from nearly 200 high-profile chefs to stop serving Pacific bluefin tuna until countries began fishing them more sustainably.
“Sometimes in order to make an impact, you have to pull the emergency brake to get people to pay attention,” Beaudin says. “Not eating it was dramatic and it made the impact we were looking for.”
He says that recommendations from scientists alone are not enough. If consumers kept buying Pacific bluefin tuna, they would wipe out the species. The pledge was one way to get the public to recognize the tuna were seriously overfished.
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Nick Rahaim, a public affairs officer at NOAA, says the most important thing that has helped bluefin tuna begin to recover is catching fewer of them. Resolutions from the IATTC, the organization that coordinates tuna fishing off the coast of the Americas, show that the United States and Mexico decreased their catch limit by nearly 40% between 2014 and 2015. Those countries fish nearly all the bluefin caught in the region.
While their numbers have risen quickly, Pacific bluefin tuna are still at less than a quarter of their historical abundance. “Recovery is finally possible,” Beaudin says. “But it’s still possible to go backward if we’re not careful.”
Pacific bluefin tuna, which are a separate species from Atlantic and southern bluefin, live throughout the Pacific Ocean. They travel enormous distances over their lives and tagging studies have recorded them swimming from California to Japan in under two months.
Protecting them has required cooperation from countries around the Pacific. These nations meet annually to discuss bluefin fishing and conservation. The next meeting is in July and Nash is hoping they will use the event to finalize a permanent sustainable fishing plan.
“The yellow rating means enjoy it, but understand that it’s not where we need to be,” Nash says. “More negotiations, more work, and more of a long-term management plan is still needed before the species recovers.”