Bluefin Brigade to the Rescue!

Bluefin tuna teeter on the brink of extinction, with their populations plummeting by as much as 80 percent since the 1970s. That's where the Bluefin Brigade comes in.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation non-profit, launched the Brigade on November 30, 2010 in order to help the beleaguered bluefin out. The Brigade comes as part of the organization's "Bluefin Boycott," a campaign that takes aim at one of the greatest threats to the struggling swimmers — the restaurant industry.

The global demand for sushi has grown exponentially in recent years, with Japanese restaurants cropping up in both major cities and small towns in the U.S. While diners chow down on a host of fish species — some sustainable and some not — bluefin tuna regularly appear on menus in most sushi joints. It's that demand for bluefin that ensures fishermen will keep hauling in the endangered fish, whether through legal or illegal catching methods.

The Center for Biological Diversity makes a logical assumption through its Boycott Bluefin campaign: Decrease restaurants' demand for bluefin and a decrease in fishing the species will inevitably follow. The Bluefin Brigade asks consumers to take the non-profit's pledge to not eat bluefin tuna and boycott restaurants that serve the endangered fish. So far, more than 20,000 people have signed. The Brigade also asks sushi restaurants to voluntarily stop serving bluefin tuna in their dining establishments. More than 30 businesses have joined, and the list consistently grows.

It's important to pressure restaurants to stop serving bluefin because regulations have ultimately failed the struggling swimmers. Scant fishing regulations exist, and those that do are poorly enforced. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the regulatory body that sets yearly catch quotas for bluefin, had the chance this year to actually give the fish a fighting chance. Scientists and environmental groups called on ICCAT to at least halve the yearly fishing quota for 2011, if not institute a moratorium on catching bluefin entirely. Instead, ICCAT succumbed to industry pressure, reducing the catch quota by a mere four percent.

What's worse is that the bluefin tuna fishing industry is rife with illegal activity. Bluefin can fetch a pretty penny — millions of them, actually. A single bluefin tuna recently sold in a Tokyo market for almost $400,000. With dough like that as an incentive, fishermen often ignore the rules and net the swimmers illegally. Plus, because regulations are so poorly enforced, there's little chance of these pirates getting caught.

It's become abundantly clear in recent years that the agencies that are supposed to regulate fishing are caught in the nets of the fishing industry. Saving the bluefin, then, requires putting unsustainable seafood purveyors on the hook. Sign our petition asking Nobu restaurants to immediately remove bluefin tuna from their menus, and take the Center for Biological Diversity's pledge to stop eating bluefin tuna and boycott dining establishments that serve the fish. It's the only way to ensure that there really will be plenty of bluefin in the sea.

GOT A TIP FOR US? Is there a story or campaign you think we should know about? E-mail us at foodtips@change.org. Please also follow Change.org's Sustainable Food page on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo credit: xmatt via Flickr