With the push nationally and globally to eat more fish to improve health, Americans unfamiliar with fishery issues could be forgiven for thinking that the oceans’ fisheries remain bountiful. In truth, many types of fish and sea animals have become endangered species in recent decades as high-tech commercial boats with huge seine nets and sophisticated sonar equipment have strip-mined once-rich fisheries.
The latest additions to the endangered lists include the prized bluefin tuna of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean areas, and eight species of commercially valuable sharks. The federal government’s announcement this week to support listing of the Atlantic bluefin tuna and six of the cited shark species marks a welcome step toward saving these species.
The United States is not alone in acknowledging the threats and embracing efforts — specifically, a ban on international trade — to save the bluefin and the troubled shark populations. But it needs help. The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, will meet this month in Doha to consider bans on exporting the endangered species. Two-thirds of the 175 members of CITES must ratify the ban to put it into force. Washington must secure the European Union’s help to make that happen.
A ban on exports of Atlantic bluefin is critical. The fish is mainly threatened because of Japan’s voracious appetite for the fish. Japan consumes 80 percent of the Atlantic catch, mostly from foreign fishermen and wholesalers, and pays unbelievably high prices for prized specimens. A single bluefin can weigh up to 800 pounds; one prized specimen recently sold for $175,000 in Japan’s fish markets.
CITES should not allow bluefin tuna and threatened sharks to be fished to commercial extinction. Bluefin, like many sharks, is an apex predator. Such species are essential to controlling populations of the chain of prey fish that sustain a balanced ocean ecosystem.
If the ban on fishing for export takes effect, American and European fleets could still fish for their domestic markets, but they would not be allowed to sell bluefins for export to Japan. Over time, that would give the bluefin, which take 12 years or more to mature sexually, time to recover before they’re extinguished.
The threatened shark species are similarly slow to mature and breed, and need comparable protection from Chinese importers of particular types of sharkfins, a dietary specialty. Preventing the loss of such valuable species should take priority over their depletion.