60 Minutes Blue Fin Tuna

[reevesr1]

Turn to 60 minutes. They are doing a segment on blue fin. It will be very interesting.

[bigbowtrout]

Rick

 

Just watched it and I see the same thing happing as the Cod fishing on the East coast. Sad very sad.

[reevesr1]

Rick

 

Just watched it and I see the same thing happing as the Cod fishing on the East coast. Sad very sad.

 

Did you notice how the local boats have been doing it for hundreds of years? Sustainable fishing, who'd a thunk it.

 

Once the factory boats move in on any fish stock, the end is in sight. No way to make it sustainable, at least from what I have seen. I have no trouble with the concept of fish as food. In the ocean, that's mostly what they are. But walking the line between sustainability and overfishing can look impossible at times.

 

About 30 years ago, a friend of my father was longlining tuna in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't remember what the limits were for yellowfin, but you could catch a lot. Bluefin was like 1 fish over 400 lb and you had to come in. My dad's friend caught a 900 lb (head off and tail off) blue. The Japanese inspectors were waiting at the pier. Cored, sampled, and sold for about $9000. This was like 1982 or so. Put that much economic incentive out there and the fish have no chance.

 

On the other side of the coin....

My father was a shrimper. Shrimp farms have pretty much ended the shrimping industry because the price today is lower than when I ran a boat back in the late '70s. Now, it bothers me that the farms have ended a way of life. But the increase in shrimp population in the Gulf, and the drastic lowering of bycatch will do nothing but improve fisheries in the Gulf. That is if the farms prove to be viable in the long term, which from what I understand, is not certain.

 

Anyway, sorry for the rambly post. I don't know what the answer is in all this. To say stop all commercial fishing is certainly naive and would also be detrimental to the health of the world as we do need the protein. But how do you control it? It makes me very sad to think of the ocean without Bluefin. But if nothing is done, that is the certain outcome.

[bigbowtrout]

The story on the Congo that came on after is making it hard for my to care about a fish when we can't even care for other humans. I would have to say 60min hit a homerun with tonights show.

[bigbowtrout]

Here is a small youtube clip on the Tuna

it's only part of the whole bit.

As we all know it would take a Global policing of the industry with limits and such but with that kind of money kicking around it would be next imposible to enforce any rules.

[reevesr1]

The story on the Congo that came on after is making it hard for my to care about a fish when we can't even care for other humans. I would have to say 60min hit a homerun with tonights show.

 

Agreed.

[rusty]

Yeah, it was a good show - but umbrellas? Come on man...Rooney's running out of material fast. Kept on waiting for it to become a segway into something half-relevant, but no dice.