The World Wildlife Fund says bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean is nearing extinction.
"This is past the alarm stage," Simon Cripps, director of the global marine program at the World Wildlife Fund, told The New York Times. "We are seeing a complete collapse of the tuna population. It could disappear and never come back."
The Washington, D.C.-based, organization is demanding the European Union impose an immediate halt to all bluefin tuna fishing.
The WWF said an independent study it commissioned showed fishing fleets from the European Union, Libya and Turkey are far exceeding their fishing quotas and then deliberately underreporting their catches.
But with tuna selling for as much as $15 a pound in Tokyo, commercial fishermen from France, Italy and Spain routinely use sonar and airplane spotters to fish the last breeding refuges in the eastern Mediterranean and Libyan waters, the WWF said.
A ship owned by the environmental group Greenpeace spent a week recently trailing French, Italian and Spanish tuna boats in the Mediterranean trying to catch the trawlers engaged in illegal fishing, The Times reported. But Greenpeace said the boats were unable to find a single tuna to catch.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
To save or savor? It's decision time for Atlantic bluefin tuna
Giant bluefin tuna are in trouble, primarily because the powerful muscles that propel their extensive ocean migrations come with an Achilles' heel: They're tasty.
Census of Marine Life historians detail collapse of bluefin tuna population off northern Europe
Ocean historians affiliated with the Census of Marine Life have painted the first detailed portrait of a burst of fishing from 1900 to 1950 that preceded the collapse of once abundant bluefin tuna populations off the coast of northern Europe.
Britain steamed over tuna rules
Britain's fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw is calling on the European Union to ban fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.
EU sets fish quotas for 2007
The European Union fisheries ministers have set the 2007 limits for fish catches in European waters.
Overfishing may lead to tuna extinction
Some scientists fear the bluefin tuna, Japan's unofficial national dish, is being caught in such numbers its commercial extinction is looming.
Scientists Find new migratory patterns for Mediterranean and Western Atlantic bluefin tuna
New research into the life cycle of Atlantic bluefin tuna shows, for the first time, that Mediterranean and North American bluefin mix substantially as juveniles, but return to their place of birth to spawn. These new research findings have critical implications for how bluefin tuna are managed on both sides of the Atlantic.
UNH researchers tag first-ever free-swimming leatherback turtles in New England
University of New Hampshire researchers have tagged one male and two female leatherback turtles off Cape Cod. They are the first free-swimming leatherbacks ever tagged in New England.
Japanese diet rich in fish may hold secret to healthy heart
If you're fishing for ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, you might start with the seafood-rich diet typically served up in Japan. According to new research, a lifetime of eating tuna, sardines, salmon and other fish appears to protect Japanese men against clogged arteries, despite other cardiovascular risk factors.