Tunas and other highly migratory species, such as sharks, large mackerels and billfish, are supposedly managed by the 48-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), ratified in Rio de Janeiro in 1966. Since then ICCAT has presided over the near commercial extinction of bluefins and has scarcely done better with sharks and billfish. ICCAT scientists analyze the condition of stocks and recommend quotas to member nations.
But even when the scientists get things right they get ignored. One thing they have gotten very wrong is their bizarre theory that there are two equally plausible scenarios for the bluefin crisis: one, they are grossly overfished and will recover if the pressure is lifted; and two, conditions in the Atlantic have changed and even with draconian quota cuts we’ve got about all the fish we’re going to have.
“Just ask yourself who’s pushing that second scenario,” declares Dr. Carl Safina, president of the Blue Ocean Institute and a former ICCAT delegate and scientific advisor. “And ask yourself for what other fish is there evidence that when you cut quotas they don’t respond. They all start recovering immediately—everything from striped bass to swordfish to fluke to scup. Everything. This is coming totally from commercials; they just made it up.”
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