Ocean Blue September 2013 | Page 27

ENDANGERED SPECIES 25 BLUEFIN T U N A The most valuable fish in the world are in great danger. According to Oceana, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) estimates that as few as 25,000 individual mature bluefin tuna remain. Conservationists had hoped the bluefin would receive more protection from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) this month, but the measures were defeated. CITES meets only once every three years Why bluefin tuna are in trouble: The greatest enemy of tuna is overfishing, overfishing, overfishing, as well as tuna ranching (when tuna are caught alive and fed for months before being exported) and loss of prey.