Gulf Oil Spill Threatens Bluefin Tuna
(Posted April 25, 2011 04:15 am)
TALLAHASSEE,
FL - Every spring, the bluefin tuna uses the northern
Gulf of Mexico as spawning grounds, at the exact time
and place the BP spill happened a year ago. Before the
spill, the sushi craze may have been the fish's biggest
threat. But now, something called "long-line fishing" is
putting the bluefin on the survival hook, according to
Tom Wheatly, director of the Gulf Surface Longline
Closure Campaign, Tampa.
"It's not very targeted. What that means is, they
don't just catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish, they
catch a lot of other species - including bluefin tuna
during their spawn, which we think needs to stop, for
sure."
Wheatly has described long-lines as a "curtain of death"
that catches any living creature unfortunate enough to
bite a baited hook.
Dave Bard with the Pew Charitable Trust says
they are focusing on trying to change commercial
long-line fishing habits.
"The threat that's been facing tuna for years now is
these surface long-lines."
The spawning periods are critical because the bluefin
population isn't exactly booming, Bard adds. The
population has declined 80 percent in the past decade.