Tuna - A feast for pirate fishers

March 2006

In the following pages we explore what is being done by ICCAT, the international organisation responsible for managing Atlantic tuna fishing, to combat the fish pirates. We also take a look "beyond the tin", at what exactly "tuna" is, where it lives, how it is caught, and the all-important question of whether our seemingly inexhaustible appetite for this large ocean predator is sustainable in the long-term. Few cupboards in Europe and America are without a few tins of tuna waiting to be made into a quick sandwich or pasta sauce. But what is commonly known as "tuna" actually includes several different species of large, ocean-going fish, targeted by fishermen worldwide, using a variety of different methods. Certain species, such as bigeye and bluefin, can fetch fantastic prices on the Japanese sashimi market, with a single fish selling for as much as US$100,000. However, coupled with their slow reproductive rate, our insatiable appetite for these high-value tunas means that they are becoming dangerously over-fished. Their high-value also makes them an alluring quarry for pirate fishermen, especially as tuna fishing grounds tend to be located far out in the ocean, in areas remote from fisheries surveillance. In some important fisheries it is estimated that a third of all tuna caught is taken by illegal vessels. Pirate fishing seriously undermines efforts to sustainably manage tuna fisheries; as their catches go unreported, accurate stock assessments are almost impossible, meaning management decisions are likely to be inadequate and fail to conserve the stocks as intended. Pirate fishers also take from stocks that are already over-depleted or marked for recovery and fail to respect any limits or controls. Indeed, the continued presence of pirate fishers in tuna grounds may well spell disaster for these magnificent fish. Pirate fishers also inflict untold damage on the wider marine environment. The methods used by legal fishermen in tuna fisheries around the world kill thousands of sea birds, marine mammals, sharks and sea turtles accidentally, but with pirate fishing this carnage is even worse, as all rules designed to minimise damage inflicted on the marine environment are ignored.