• Help SeaKeepers raise awareness about Bluefin tuna sustainability and aquaculture development!
• Support time and area closures of spawning grounds and sancuaries to protect Bluefin fisheries.
• Support efforts to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
• Discourage long line and destructive fishing practices
• Support Bluefin aquaculture
• Avoid fishing, purchasing and eating Bluefin tuna

Since the fourth century BC, species of Bluefin tuna have captivated scientists and philosophers alike. Both Aristotle and Pliny the Elder reflected on the seasonal appearance and migration patterns of the Atlantic Bluefin tuna (ABFT) within the Mediterranean Sea. Since then, scientists have observed, documented and thoroughly researched the life history of the species, “nevertheless, linkages between advances in biology and ecology of ABFT and current developments in fisheries biology, exploitation and management are still lacking.”[vi]

Archaeologists believe they have found evidence that points to the fishing of the Atlantic Bluefin tuna as early as the seventh millennium BC. The Phoenicians followed by the Romans fished over one hundred species of tunas using hand lines and a few varieties of seines. The first industrial fishery in the Mediterranean and Gibraltar Straight employed traps and beach seines. Such traps were still used well into the early twentieth century, but as demand increased, fishermen developed a new method of active fishing gear: the purse seine. Use of the purse seine exploded, allowing the Bluefin fishery to expand internationally. At that point in time, however, markets for large fish like tuna had not yet developed so catches remained steady. The first use of long-lining to catch Atlantic Bluefin tuna occurred in the 1960s. Demand for tuna species rose exponentially due to the development of the Japanese sushi-sashimi market in the 1980s, which made the fishery more profitable than ever before. Improvements in technology, efficiency and capacity of the established fisheries also increased exploitation.[vii]

Bluefin tuna are epipelagic; they spend their lives predominately within the first two hundred meters of the ocean, where sunlight still penetrates. Recent tagging and ultrasonic telemetry have revealed, however, that while Bluefin are primarily epipelagic, all ages of the species have been found to dive to depths exceeding one thousand meters. As an oceanic species, Bluefin tuna only seasonally come to shore to spawn. Known spawning areas for large adults include the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea and northeast of the Philippines in the Pacific.[viii] Their incredible swimming speed allows the fish to migrate thousands of miles between their warm water spawning grounds and preferred cold water feeding grounds.

The spawning grounds within the Gulf of Mexico were recently threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred last summer. The massive oil spill occurred the exact month that Bluefin tuna are known to annually congregate and reproduce. Due to the slow development of tuna species, aquatic managers won’t know the adverse impacts for years to come.[ix]

The majority of the demand for large Bluefin tuna comes from Japan where the fish is considered one of the most valuable species used in Japanese raw-fish dishes. An individual tuna weighing more than seven hundred and fifty pounds was sold for nearly four hundred thousand dollars early this year at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Japan catches more tonnage of Bluefin tuna with its long-distance fleets than any other nation.[x] The Bluefin tuna matures extremely slowly, reaching maturity between the ages of four and eight for some species; therefore, many of these fisheries are catching individuals before they reach their reproductive age.

The Bluefin tuna spawning grounds within the Gulf of Mexico were recently threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the summer of 2010. The massive oil spill occurred the exact month that Bluefin tuna are known to annually congregate and reproduce. Due to the slow development of tuna species, aquatic managers won’t know the adverse impacts for years to come.[xi]