The Huffington Post: Bluefin Tuna Black Market


The head of a tuna is discarded in Malta, after cutting prized flesh from the crown of the head and behind the eyes.
Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com

The rapid demise of Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna, the source of prized sushi around the world, is due to a $4 billion black market and a decade of rampant fraud and lack of official oversight, according to Looting the Seas, a new investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

As regulators gather in Paris this month to decide the fate of the threatened bluefin, ICIJ's investigation reveals that behind plummeting stocks of the fish is a supply chain riddled with criminal misconduct and negligence, from fishing fleets to sea ranches to distributors.

Each year, thousands of tons of fish have been illegally caught and traded, the seven-month investigation found. At its peak - between 1998 and 2007- this black market included more than one out of every three bluefin caught, conservatively valued at $400 million per year.

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Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 11/9/2010 10:00 AM
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: tuna overfishing black market fishing bluefin tuna fish
 

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