Because of its delicious taste, the Blue Fin Tuna could well soon be an extinct species because of the threat of over fishing due to the high demand for its meat.
Directly affected, aside from the Blue Fin tuna, are those who rely on harvesting it for their livelihood. Right now there are reports of temporary laying off of workers in canneries due to the low supply of tuna that can be fished. Due also to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) reigning in their fishing boats by putting a ban on the fishing of tuna in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean in order to allow the tuna to replenish itself.
Some ingenious Japanese researchers from Kinki University have already tried to develop the commercial growing of Tuna in open sea fish cages and have been met with success. This could spell relief for the already exhausted tuna population and could also help reduce the loss of seamen engaged in the dangerous business of fishing. There are criticisms however that although the demand for tuna fishing has decreased, it had in fact only been transferred to the fishing of other small fish that are the food of the tuna (ex. mackerel). The researchers are hoping to answer this by developing alternate means of feeding the tuna. Not an easy feat because tuna are carnivorous creatures used to live meat.
The key to developing commercial farming of any type of fish has always been in the production of the fingerlings. As was the case of the bangus (milkfish) industry before, wherein the fingerlings could only be caught from the wild by means of a net that was dragged on the shore. When the technology to breed fingerlings became available that was the time that industry took off and matured.
Category: Conservation
