Lee Crockett

This year's purse-seine fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea kicked off this week, but don't blink or you might miss it.

On Tuesday, May 15, large commercial purse-seine vessels with massive nets set out to catch literally tons of tuna by encircling entire schools of breeding bluefin. The...

Health care is a controversial topic these days, but one thing we can all agree on is the importance of annual checkups. Every year, millions of Americans visit their doctors as a proactive measure to stay healthy, identify any underlying conditions, and check for common problems -- all in an...

Small fish such as sardines and anchovies don't get much love. But these little fish provide essential food for all the marine life that we like to catch, eat or watch. Unfortunately, most fisheries managers haven't thought too much about these prey fish, either--until now, that is.

The newest reality TV stars aren't college kids thrown together in a group house, or a couple who race around the world to win a million dollars. They are the men, and occasionally the women, who do the jobs that many of us didn't even know existed: the axmen from...

Within the next few weeks, alewife and blueback herring, collectively known as river herring, will begin their annual migration from coastal waters to their native rivers. The platinum-colored fish spend most of the year in the ocean, migrating to rivers to spawn each spring before returning to sea.

Sometimes, an idea comes forward in Washington that actually brings together people who normally disagree. The Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act (FIRRA) of 2012 does that and more. This bipartisan bill would provide financial support to fishermen and improve management of our oceans. Restoring our depleted fish...

For decades, fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico have used surface longlines to catch swordfish and yellowfin tuna. These lines stretch an average of 30 miles, dangle hundreds of baited hooks, and can be left in the water for up to 18 hours. This fishing method catches and kills large...

Several months ago, I wrote about a study showing that Atlantic bluefin tuna were being caught at a rate much higher than scientists recommended and regulations allowed. Furthermore, fishermen were not reporting their catches to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the...

For the five-year anniversary of the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the law that addresses fisheries in the U.S., I collaborated on this op-ed with former National Marine Fisheries Service director Bill Hogarth. He currently directs the Florida Institute of Oceanography.

Remarkable things can happen when key stakeholders and leaders...

Thanks for following along with my "Overfishing 101" series. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm kicking off 2012 with a new series, "The Bottom Line." I'll be covering more ground and broader fisheries-related topics and hope you'll enjoy my new endeavor.

One of...

In October, I spent two days fishing off Montauk, N.Y. In fact, I was quite sore by the end of the second day after reeling in dozens of false albacore, bluefish, and striped bass.

The success of the trip was due in part to the skill of my guide,...

Six months ago, I wrote about the historic reforms to New England's important groundfish fisheries, which target bottom-dwelling species such as cod and flounder that have fed New Englanders for centuries. The New England Fishery Management Council adopted these changes last year to reverse the devastating impact of...

Where is Pendik, you might wonder? That is exactly what I asked myself when I touched down in Turkey last week. Pendik is a bustling coastal town about an hour south from Istanbul, and it was the location of the 22nd meeting of the International Commission...

What's in a name? If you're talking about ICCAT -- the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas -- so much is contained in that one acronym. This body manages all the tuna and tuna-like species found in the vast ocean waters between the United...

Anglers like me are often impressed with size. We seek out the largest fish, revel in stories about the "big one" that got away, and proudly display photos of our most impressive catches. But it's a small, unassuming fish, the Atlantic menhaden, which forms the backbone...

How heavy is 35,000 metric tons? For starters, it's the weight of 193 jumbo jets or 2,917 African elephants. It's also the amount of Atlantic bluefin tuna that have exceeded the official catch quota in the Mediterranean Sea in the past two years alone, according to a Pew-commissioned analysis of the international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Exceeding quotas

As I've written before, illegal and unreported fishing is a real and ongoing problem in the Mediterranean bluefin fishery. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the body that manages bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, sets an annual fishing limit, but there is clear evidence that these quotas have been surpassed in recent years, often by a large margin. In 2007, ICCAT's scientists indicated that the number of fish caught that year might have been double the official limits. In an effort to combat overfishing of the species, in 2008 ICCAT reduced the quota and put in place improved compliance measures, such as a paper-based catch documentation system, meant to track bluefin tuna from sea to plate.

But because of a complicated supply chain that can stretch halfway around the world, and the fact that tuna can change hands many times before it becomes someone's meal, it is very difficult to quantify the amount of bluefin traded each year. That's why the Pew Environment Group commissioned Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi, a bluefin tuna trade expert, to sort through years of import and export documents from countries around the world to provide a clearer picture of the true scope of the trade in Mediterranean bluefin tuna. We were especially interested in years 2009 and 2010 so that we could learn whether new ICCAT compliance measures have been effective.

A growing problem

Although total catches and trade have been decreasing since 2008, and improved compliance measures have been put in place, the report found a striking difference between the quota and the amount traded on the global market. Specifically, the report showed that:

• In 2008, the number of bluefin traded around the world exceeded the quota by 31 percent.


• By 2010, that percentage had grown to an astonishing 141 percent.


• The combined trade for 2009 and 2010 was double the quotas set by ICCAT (70,646 metric tons and 35,306 metric tons, respectively).

The problem of unreported fishing of Mediterranean bluefin tuna continues.

There are several reasons why we should care about this problem. For starters, it directly affects the conservation status of Atlantic bluefin, a species whose numbers are already at near-historic lows. When the catch is double the official limits, and the future of the population is jeopardized. Unreported fishing also affects the accuracy of the stock assessments (a scientific method of determining the amount or number of fish) used to set future quotas. Illegal and unreported bluefin are often not included in the official catch data used in these assessments, which leads to overly optimistic evaluations of the health of the population. Using ICCAT's 2010 stock assessment for bluefin tuna, if the actual fishing level continues to be twice the quota, as indicated by this analysis, there is a less than a 24 percent chance that the Mediterranean bluefin population will rebuild by 2022.

According to Bregazzi, many of the problems of underreporting and misreporting of catches originate in Mediterranean tuna ranches, floating sea pens where juvenile bluefin are fattened before being killed and sold on the world market. The young fish are caught and transferred to the ranches, where there is often a discrepancy between the amount of fish reported in the ranches, compared to the amount that comes out.

Fortunately, there are several steps that ICCAT member countries can take to address these problems. In previous posts, I've mentioned how an electronic bluefin catch documentation (eBCD) system could better count and track the number of bluefin caught each year, as well as provide information that could improve enforcement and science. An eBCD system would be particularly helpful to officials in the Mediterranean charged with monitoring the amount of bluefin tuna coming out of ranches.

Technology, such as stereoscopic video, can also help get a more accurate count of the number of fish transferred from vessel to ranch. In addition, countries have the ability to increase their enforcement efforts at the dock by dialing up inspections and turning away vessels that have been fishing illegally.

Let's hope ICCAT member governments take a real leadership role and help protect one of the most fascinating and sought after fish in the sea.

Read the full "Overfishing 101″ series here.

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