Where have all the tuna gone?
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All along Spain´s southernmost Atlantic coastline, the bluefin tuna is king. For several weeks at this time every year, menfolk in coastal towns head out to sea and trap hundreds of these behemoth fish using an artisanal system of nets known as the almadraba. They lay walls of mesh to guide the migrating fish into a catch net, to later haul them out by hand. It is a dramatic, timeless spectacle, and it is under threat. Watch it here.
Out in the Mediterranean this month, the Greenpeace flag ship Rainbow Warrior is campaigning to save the bluefin tuna. Stocks are on the verge of collapse and the fish faces extinction. But in the corridors of power in the capitals of Europe, the bureacrats are not listening. Despite calls for a ban on commercial bluefin fishing, officials have barely managed a nod in the direction of reduced quotas. But if we´re going to carry on eating tuna - and let´s face it, most of us want to - the species must be allowed time to recover.
Governments gathered at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in March failed to approve a ban on the lucrative trade in Atlantic bluefin meat, a measure which could have helped avert rapid bluefin tuna extinction. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, which sets catch quotas, seems equally powerless to ease pressure on the fisheries. Instead, short term interests are repeatedly put ahead of the long term survival of the species. “Time and tuna are running out and urgent action to save our oceans is needed now from governments and the public," said Oliver Knowles, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner. "Consumers must not buy or eat bluefin tuna and governments should put healthy oceans ahead of short-term profits by changing fishing policies and creating marine reserves."
Greenpeace is campaigning to establish a global network of marine reserves- areas of ocean off-limits to fishing, mining, drilling and other extractive activities- to cover 40 percent of the world’s oceans, including the Mediterranean. It says this is a necessary step to restoring the world´s oceans and fish stocks back to health. You can support the campaign here.
All of this takes me back to the coastal villages of southern Spain, just an hour or two´s drive from my home in Gibraltar. In Barbate recently, 50 of Spain´s best known Michelin-starred chefs descended on the town of Barbate to witness the first catch, or levantá, at first hand. With the fish on land, they watched as the largest specimen, a 350-kilo monster, was cut up and filleted into lush, deep ruby-red hunks of flesh. Then off they went to a famous local restaurant, El Campero de Barbate, where they sampled a range of tuna dishes including a local recipe prepared with bluefin tuna semen, piruleta de hueva con leche. In this part of the world, no part of this beautiful fish is wasted.
The chefs were in Barbate at the invitation of the local mayor and fishermen, who wanted to raise awareness about sustainable fishing at a time when tuna quotas are under close scrutiny. They wanted to ensure that this artisanal form of fishing does not disappear along with the tuna. But without a clampdown on commercial trawlers and purse seiners out at sea, and unless the likes of Greenpeace gather weight behind their campaigns, bluefin, and the fishermen of towns like Barbate, may well have their days counted.
You can understand the good intentions of these 50 Spanish chefs, who want to protect a way of life in coastal towns. But with bluefin teetering on the edge of extinction, perhaps a better message would have been to keep tuna off the menu altogether, at least for while. Your thoughts?
Photos via Greenpeace and EfeAmitayus
