Bluefin betrayed by policy makers - now it's up to us

I am ashamed to report that the folks who have the most information about the plight of the Atlantic bluefin tuna still cannot seem to give this great fish a chance to rebuild its breeding stocks in 2009. Last week in the all important meeting in Morocco, ICCAT headed by Doctor Fabio Hazin, the person who the last blog post was addressed ignored the advice from a bevy of global scientists, including his own, and sided on behalf of greedy European nation stakeholders in setting a quota that is much too high for the current stocks to yield. Even worse, they did not elect to close the spawning grounds. Many top news agencies are covering the story. The New York Times posted about the situation here. Essentially all of the articles and blog posts have the same theme of disappointment. You simply cannot continue to take these fish with reckless abandon and at the same time scoop up the fish that have been heroic enough to even make it to the breeding grounds.

So........what next?

The take away here is that the people must join this fight and be heard. The tuna industry does not seem able to save itself from itself and it's taking the bluefin down in the process. I think the solution here is to change the demand equation by igniting global peer pressure in defense of the bluefin. If people don't eat bluefin and make their concerns known to establishments, then the forces will work upstream to the markets, fishing fleets and then to the policy makers.

On Friday Time Magazine World Editor Vivenne Walt penned a great summary of the situation here. WWF and GreenPeace and taking a stand and calling on the people for help. The world went crazy when dolphins were being killed in tuna nets. If we can learn anything from this, it's that once the public opinon gets behind something, polices can change. The bluefin now needs that same compassion.

So there's more to come here but here are a few simple tips to help save the mighty bluefin;

Ask Before You Eat - if you go out to eat or buy tuna, ask what kind of tuna it is, if it's Atlantic bluefin, pass and tell them how you feel.

Tell A Friend - Simply educate those around you that this fish needs help and eating bluefin is not cool.

On Facebook - If you are on Facebook you can join the Save The Bluefin Group. This is a great way to extend the message to people you know and care about.

Widget for your blog or web site - If you have a blog you can grab this cool widget that shows your support. Look in the right side bar of this page and you will see how the widget is typically installed on blogs. Go here to grab the widget. It's titled Network Badge - Small. Here is what it looks like;

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