Bluefin tuna fishing cannot be sustainable. This is the message that WWF sends when a label could be granted to this practice in the Atlantic.
The environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) "formally opposes" the first sustainable certification of a bluefin tuna fishery in the Atlantic, about to be granted by the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council ), one of the most famous labels in the world. WWF believes that "such a measure constitutes a dangerous incentive for the market and jeopardizes the replenishment of the stock in the long term".
Decades of overfishing
"While they were on the verge of extinction in the 2000s, stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna have been increasing for a few years", but "the population has not yet reached the threshold of sustainability", explains WWF. "This means that no bluefin tuna fishery should be approved by a sustainable label," continues the NGO, which calls on the MSC to "stop the ongoing certification process and put pressure on governments to improve fisheries controls as well as their traceability ”.
"As a stakeholder involved in the protection and effective management of bluefin tuna stocks, we shared our scientifically supported opinions within the framework of the certification procedure, but these were summarily rejected", deplores Giuseppe Di Carlo , director of the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative. "We are now taking a stand and highlighting the shortcomings of the MSC in this certification process, as well as the need for preventive and careful management to ensure the safeguard of this emblematic species," he continues.
Bluefin tuna, which Japanese gourmets are particularly fond of, has been overfished for decades in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic until the prospect of seeing one of its three species (bluefin tuna from the North, from the South and the Pacific) added to the United Nations list of endangered species pushes the fishing world to act. Drastic quotas and protective measures were adopted, which allowed stocks to rebuild.
