Conservation efforts bring bluefin tuna back to Southern California

Record ID: 1360620

  • Title: Conservation efforts bring bluefin tuna back to Southern California
  • Date: 17th October 2018
  • Summary: AT SEA OF THE COAST OF SAN DIEGO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS UNDERWATER FOOTAGE OF FISHERMAN FREEDIVING TO SPEAR LARGE PACIFIC BLUEFIN TUNA LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERARD DINARDO, DIRECTOR OF THE FISHERIES RESOURCES DIVISION AT SOUTHWEST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER, SAYING: "The answer to some of this is that they have never
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2018 11:01
  • Keywords: Tuna bluefin fishing California
  • Location: AT SEA/SAN DIEGO AND LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: AT SEA/SAN DIEGO AND LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA00192GEFYX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Large Pacific bluefin tuna not seen in California waters for decades have reappeared to the delight of sports fishermen and scientists, as global conservation efforts have proven effective for one of the ocean's priciest and most sought-after fish.
    Overfishing of bluefin tuna spurred by a growing global appetite for sushi resulted in a critical decline in stocks over decades, but measures by the United States, Japan, Mexico and others to limit their take has led to population growth.
    Gerard DiNardo, director of the Fisheries Resources Division at Southwest Fisheries Science Center, a division of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in La Jolla, California, said there has been an increase in population as well as size of the bluefin because of those efforts.
    "This is management and effective management and it actually is working," said DiNardo.
    Record-breaking temperatures in San Diego this past summer and the warming of the ocean off the California coast also has provided a feeding ground for the more than 250 pound (113.4 kg.) fish, which can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In early January, an 890 pound (403.7 kg.) bluefin fetched $323,000 at the Tsukiji Fist market in Tokyo.
    "They're here to feed," said Heidi Dewar, a fisheries research biologist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. "If we want to understand the dynamics of what's going on here...we really need to look at what they're feeding on."
    Scientists said there have been discussions within the fishing community for years about the seeming disappearance of the fish.
    But DiNardo said, "They've always been here. It's just that they've been in low numbers for a number of decades."
    Local sport fisherman have welcomed their resurgence.
    On a fishing trip, a Reuters journalist witnessed a freediver of big game fish decked in a camouflage wetsuit and holding a spear emerge from the deep blue waters 68 miles off the California coast after having caught a 200 pound bluefin as a school swam 60 feet below.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register