Bluefin tuna is widely considered a controversial dish. With its numbers in rapid decline, restaurants that serve wild-caught bluefin tuna are often considered daring at best, gauche at worst. But from where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stand, some of that worry may be at least to some degree misplaced. The NOAA announced today that, after conducting an extensive scientific review, they have reached the decision that the bluefin tuna is not in need of special protection under the Endangered Species Act. Rather, the federal agency has designated the bluefin tuna a “species of concern.”
The review was conducted at the request of the Arizona-based organization Center for Biological Diversity, who sought to garner endangered species status for the Atlantic bluefin tuna. The Center for Biological Diversity claims that overfishing is putting the bluefin tuna in serious danger of extinction – already, the bluefin tuna population has decreased by more than 80 percent, and the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has only caused further damage.
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The NOAA, however, sided with U.S. fisherman and other advocates of bluefin tuna harvesting, who claim that bluefin tuna are still being fished at sustainable levels. “Listing the bluefin as threatened or endangered would have jeopardized the livelihood of tuna fishermen,” said U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, adding that U.S. fishermen have led the world in efforts to conserve and rebuild bluefin tuna populations.
The Center for Biological Diversity is not taking this news lying down, and has issued a formal statement regarding their intention to sue the agency for failing to protect the bluefin tuna with an Endangered Species classification. “If we don’t stop overfishing, bluefin tuna will vanish, leading to empty hooks and an empty ocean,” said Center staff attorney Catherine Kilduff. “With each year, bluefin tuna becomes scarcer in US waters. Canada’s scientists, in their assessment of bluefin as ‘endangered,’ calculated a 68-percent decline in two and a half generations. It’s time to halt the decline before bluefin tuna disappears forever.”
