If the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery is not closed, the bluefin will be functionally extinct by 2012 according to a new analysis from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). While the population has undergone steep declines for over a decade, fishery managers and policy-makers have continually ignored calls from scientists that fishing must stop if the Mediterranean bluefin tuna is to survive.

“Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse, and here is the data to prove it,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “Whichever way you look at it, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna collapse trend is dramatic, it is alarming, and it is happening now. WWF has no choice but to again urge the immediate closure of this fishery.”

The new analysis shows that the breeding population was cut in half in five years, from 2002-2007. At the same time the size of breeding fish has dropped drastically: around 50 percent in 15 years depending on the area of the Mediterranean.

In a news release WWF points to numerous factors that have led to the bluefin’s plight in the Mediterranean: “the huge overcapacity of fishing fleets, catches that far exceed legal quotas, pirate fishing, the use of illegal spotting planes to chase the tunas, under-reporting of catch, fishing during the closed season, management measures disregarding scientific advice, and the insatiable appetite of the world’s luxury seafood markets.”

The Mediterranean bluefin tuna season opens tomorrow, April 15th. Last November the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) decided to pursue a fishing season in 2009 allowing for 22,000 tons of bluefin tuna to be caught in the Mediterranean, despite calls from scientists and some members to close the fishery altogether for the year.

“For years people have been asking when the collapse of this fishery will happen, and now we have the answer,” said Dr Tudela. “Mediterranean bluefin tuna is collapsing as we speak and yet the fishery will kick off again tomorrow for business as usual. It is absurd and inexcusable to open a fishing season when stocks of the target species are collapsing.”

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