Quota increase puts tuna on track to extinction says Greenpeace

The increased quota for southern bluefin tuna puts the species on the fast track to extinction, says Greenpeace.

The Ministry of Fisheries announced this afternoon that the quota for southern bluefin tuna will be increased for the second year in a row.

Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner Karli Thomas says it is obscene to raise the quota for a species already listed as critically endangered.

“We simply should not be fishing for a species that is this close to extinction” she says.

“Southern bluefin stocks are down to 4.6 per cent and New Zealand has more than doubled the quota in the last five years (1). We are talking about a species that’s in as much strife as Maui’s dolphins and the kakapo.”

Worldwide, bluefin catches have been reduced in response to declining numbers.

Ends


Notes to editor:

(1) Total Allowable Catch by fishing year:

2005-2006 237 Tonnes

2006-2007 379 Tonnes

2007-2008 318 Tonnes

2008-2009 420 Tonnes

2009-2010 532 Tonnes

2010-2011 539 Tonnes


Greenpeace submission on the Ministry of Fisheries quota proposals (Dec 2010):
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/Global/new-zealand/P3/publications/oceans/2010/Greenpeace%20submission%20SBT%20Dec%202010%282%29.pdf