The Tuna Industry And Its Effects On The Oceanic Ecosystem

One of the factors that made sushi popular was the influence of the American soldiers. After World War II (WWII), American soldiers who were led by General Douglas MacArthur occupied Japan. During the war, sushi shops were forced to close due to rationing. There were not enough rice to reopen the shops after the war. The American forces created a program where people would be the ones to bring their own rice to the shop if they wanted sushi. The sushi chef would then use the rice brought by the customers to make sushi for them. This allowed for the shops to reopen and function. This popularized sushi outside of Tokyo (sushi was mainly sold in the city). One can say, sushi was saved by the American forces. If the American forces had not stepped in and created the program to help revive the sushi shops, no doubt would there be sushi shops open today. Sushi would not have had the chance to spread outside of Tokyo.

Throughout the country’s history, sushi began to appear in the west. As more sushi began to appear in other countries, the higher the demand became. As a result of high demand, tourism significantly increased and so did the export of fish. Other countries began to implement fish into their own cuisines and Japanese identity/culture began to spread all over the world. The late 20th century saw sushi gaining in popularity all over the world.

The Context of Japanese Coastal Fisheries Management,” that discusses the semantic differences between the terms “sustainable” and “commercial” and applies them to the whaling practices needed by a few coastal villages. The article claims that if sustainability is the goal of management politics

Bluefin tuna are highly nutrient dense, being a source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids, which are vital to a good diet to combat common health issues such as strokes, heart disease, cancer, eyesight issues, etc (Bruso). The Bluefin tuna is also known as a delicacy for many, appearing in the form of sushi, sashimi and steak (Sea Shepherd Operation Bluerage).

There are two documentaries from The Water Brothers program,“The End of Sushi” and “Ocean Spies” (2017) were presented by Alex and Tyler. Furthermore, Alex and Tyler explain in these two documentaries that a high demand for sushi and the illegal fishing are causing a huge damage to the planet. In The first documentary “The End of Sushi”, Alex and Tyler indicate that sushi has become a global dish, which leads to increase the demand for several marine species such as tuna. Furthermore, this is causing the ocean to become more unhealthy and ruin the natural balance. Moreover, the presenters also mention that most of the sushi restaurants make so many choices and use several marine species which caused more damage to the environment. Also, fisherman

The Bluefin tuna populations are declining rapidly, due to overfishing to cater for the high consumer demands. It is vital that a suitable enclosure is made, to enable their species to be saved from their current exploitation. If the Bluefin tuna was to become extinct, there would be major consequences attained from that. The Bluefin tuna is a top predatory species, they are essential for maintaining balance within the ocean. If they were to become extinct, it would result in a trophic cascade, causing disruption to the food chain, the ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling. Since the fishing industry fishes down the web, the lower trophic levelled fish would be the next in line to become extinct. Their absence will also leave

Thunnus Thynnus, or the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, is one of the largest species of tuna, weighing in at over 600 kilograms and four meters in length. It is known for its speed and takes the shape of a torpedo. In its environment, the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna acts as one of the top predators. It preys on smaller fish, such as herring, mackerel and eels. The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is separated into two main populations, Eastern and Western. Although located in different geographical areas they are not isolated and individuals migrate between the two populations allowing gene flow. The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna’s population ranges all through the pelagic zone of the Atlantic. The Western Atlantic population spawns in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Eastern Atlantic population spawns in the Mediterranean Sea. In the fishing industry it is highly coveted for sports fishing, especially in the United States and Canada, and in the sashimi market for high-end sushi. As a result of the high demands for the Tuna it is being heavily overfished causing the population to decline dramatically. The low supply and high demand for the Tuna has made them extremely valuable; a single fish in Tokyo 's Tsukiji fish market sold for 1.76 million dollar (Bluefin, 2013). This high value of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has resulted in illegal pirate fishing causing more harm to the population. If the illegal pirate fishing and overfishing of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna continues, the species will become extinct resulting

The importance of having access to waterways is essential for early settlement of citizens and for military purposes. This dependent resource provides a more efficient transportation route as well as access to marine resources such as fishing. Fish also became a source of protein diet and economic trade values in both Chinese and Japanese cultures. In this essay, I will be using the Pseudosciaena crocea also known as the Yellow croaker as my example.1 Yellow croaker got their name from the noises that they make during the spawning season.2 I will also be addressing the problem of overfishing and environmental consequences that arise. By analyzing the patterns of ecological transformations within fishing disputes between China and Japan, we can see how marine resource exploitation becomes a motivation to strengthen each perspective 's nation state.

When fish populations are low in one area, fishing boats will need to move to another area where fish are more abundant. This renders oceans and their sea life helpless and severely damaged until all of the fish in the oceans are completely gone. That is why governments need laws establishing the length of time a person could spend at sea fishing, in order to reduce overfishing and increase recovery of fish populations. One example of a fish population suffering from overfishing is the Pacific bluefin tuna. “Overfishing has left the world with less than five percent of its Pacific Bluefin tuna, says the Pew Environment Group” (Kowalski). This statement explains to the world how overfishing can drastically decrease a species’ population in an extraordinarily short time period. The Pacific bluefin tuna and other fish are very much stressed by overfishing, and suffer severe losses of population every day. Moreover, overfishing will soon lead to the extinction of fish species like the Pacific bluefin tuna. The European Commission even admits that the “EU’s [European Union] stocks are 88% overfished” (“An Icelandic Success”). This reveals Europe’s failure to prevent overfishing from spreading throughout the continent and beyond its borders. The majority of Europe’s fish supply undergoes the harmful effects that overfishing brings. Additionally, the fish

For this issue, mostly, European Commission, countries such as Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, Gulf of Mexico, the U.S.A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and also Japan(as a country for importing Tuna for sushi)are involved in order to tackle this obstacle.

There are 15 species of tuna in five genera comprising a monophyletic clade (Tribe Thunnini) of the family Scombridae. Tunas are highly active teleost predators that inhabit tropical and temperate waters mainly in the pelagic zones. Tuna are the only known teleost that can maintain its body temperature using thermo-conserving strategies. Relative to most other species, tunas have a fundamentally different swimming mode, a radically different thermal biology, increased rate functions (e.g. standard metabolic rate (SMR), aerobic capacity, heart rate and gut clearance) and a markedly different cardiac physiology. Thermoregulation is essential for maintaining high speed. These qualities are necessary for migration, feeding and foraging. In addition to thermoregulation, its unique composition of white and red muscle allows it to be so fast. The high proportion of red muscle in tuna allows it to swim at high speeds, up to 45km/h, for long periods without fatigue. ( Bushnell & Holland, 1997) The white muscle are used for short bursts of activity. (George & Don Stevens, 1978)

All around the world fishing fleets are growing both in quantity and size, and are fishing at a dangerous rate. Overfishing has been the root cause of the drastic drop in sea wildlife at rates too high for fish and whale species to replace themselves, this issue gained attention in the mid-20th century and led the creation of regulation organization policies both from state governments and the organizations. For the past three decades overfishing is still an ongoing environmental issue, there is international support invested in bringing awareness and developing methods to save what has been lost, but there is also international opposition due to the actors either fighting to keep regulations at a minimum or looking for exceptions or loopholes to the regulations, actors are also just not complying with the set regulations. This paper will focus on examining two environmental regimes, fisheries depletion and whaling, both regimes share a number of similarities in regards to being a global commons issue, nature of agreements, and economic profit industries working against them, but they had different outcomes.

In the Pacific Islands region, the annual catch volume and volume per catch have increased over the last thirty years (figure 2). Despite some annual variation, the catch volume has increased roughly ten-fold from 1970 to 1999. Additionally, the value has increased dramatically from approximately USD375 million in 1982 (Clark 1983), to USD1.2 billion in 1993 (World Bank 1995), to USD1.7 billion in 1995 (FFA 1996), and to USD1.9 billion in 1998 (Van Santen and Muller 2000). These figures clearly indicate the importance of tuna fishing to the Pacific Islands’ economies, with the current annual tuna harvest valued at USD1.9 billion. The countries and regions within the Pacific Islands have a combined GDP of USD17 billion (SPC 1998b), thus the annual tuna harvest represents roughly 11 percent of the region’s GDP.

In the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP), tuna schools are identified by tracking dolphins, the species are commonly known to swim above tunas, and harvested by using large "purse seine" nets which leads to dolphins mortality accidentally trapped with tunas . The US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 forbade the importation of yellowfin tuna harvested with large purse-seine nets (primary nation embargo) in the ETP except when the harvesting country was recognized by the competent US authorities to have an equivalent programme of taking tuna to that of the US

By 2050, we could effectively be out of fish.” (United Nations, 2010) In the 21st century, fisheries are facing a crisis along with some other public goods. Fisheries satisfy the conditions for being a common (public) good by being ‘non-excludable’ and ‘rival.’ No one can ‘exclude’ a person from fishing, but present-day intake of fish will reduce the amount available for other fisherman in the future (‘rival’). Around 80% of the world’s fisheries are being over-exploited leading to a devastating impact on aquatic communities as it destabilizes the food chain and destructs the natural habitats of many oceanic communities.