Saving Private Tuna
Finally, somebody is stepping up to the looming tuna fishery collapse – several small Pacific island nations are putting restrictions on tuna catches in their territorial waters. For me the news would be a lot more welcome, though, if they had done this in league with the world’s major tuna consumers in Asia and North America, as there are two major challenges facing these ‘lil nations.
First, this leaves far more ocean unprotected than protected, and from previous studies, tuna seem to get around. Second, and just as critically, poaching is a huge problem, particularly when it comes to Asian fishing fleets. Even the territory being restricted is pretty damn huge, and these cute ‘lil countries don’t have anywhere near the resources to patrol them. And let’s say they do come face to face with a serious poacher – who is going to take the Kiribati Coast Guard seriously?
Unless we can get the big tuna eater leaders on-board with these restrictions, we should seriously consider Plan B, maybe even crewed by these rascals!
Stumble it!
Tags: Asian fishing fleets, Kiribati, ocean conservation, Somalian pirates, tuna