UPDATE: Tuna boats in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean will be allowed to catch a total of 13,500 tonnes of bluefin tuna next year, down from the provisional quota of 19,950 tonnes. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) says this gives the species a 60 per cent chance of recovering within 15 years, but environmental groups say it is not enough to save the bluefin from commercial extinction.
On the decline (Image: David Fleetham/Visuals Unlimited/Getty) Pablo Cermeño (with harpoon) prepares to tag another tuna (Image: Edward Parker/WWF-Canon) These tags are placed inside the tuna’s body (Image: Graham Lawton) Pablo Cermeño inserts a tag (Image: Edward Parker/WWF-Canon) The taggers are offering financial rewards to give fishers incentives to send the tags back (Image: Graham Lawton)
Editorial: Last chance for tuna
PABLO CERMEÑO balances at the back of the small boat, legs braced, harpoon at the ready. Beneath him in the crystal waters his target is clearly visible: a shimmer of metallic turquoise that tacks left, right, left again as it is hauled inexorably towards the surface. The fisherman grunts and sweats as he does battle with the giant fish, reeling, pulling and reeling again.
The fish breaks the surface; it is at least a metre long. Its cold black eye stares at us and its razor mouth gapes, exhausted from the fight. As it thrashes back and forth in the water Cermeño strikes, plunging the harpoon into its back (see image) to deposit an electronic tagging device. Everybody cheers, and Cermeño kneels to cut the line.…
