May 2 – World Tuna Day

Posted on May 2, 2018

Tuna is NOT the "Chicken of the Sea." But it is a very popular food fish used to feed millions all over the world. 

Whether it's Atlantic bluefin, albacore, skipjack, yellowfin, or bigeye, millions of tons of tuna are caught every year to supply restaurants, grocery stores, and canned-tuna manufacturers.

Tuna are super streamlined.
Because of that, they are fast swimmers.
I read that they can cross some oceans
in just 21 days!


Unfortunately, that is too many tons of tuna! Don't get me wrong - tuna is good for people to eat, having a lot of protein with very little fat, plus iron and potassium - and as long as folks don't eat tuna every day (they would get harmful dosages of mercury), the eating isn't the problem. 

Here's the problem: overfishing has caused some species of tuna to become endangered!

Some tuna grow to be large - from 6 to 12 feet long and 500 to 1,500 pounds (1.8 to 3.65 m and 220 to 680 kg)! A single large fish can sell for more than $100,000 in Japan!!! With that kind of money on the line, you can see why there is over-fishing. But the fishing industry MUST think sustainability - or else they may earn record amounts one year and then never make another dime from tuna - because the tuna are gone!

All nations must work together to protect fisheries and allow the species to replenish their numbers - so that there will be tuna the next year, and the next, and the year after that.

If tuna fishing were mostly individuals thrilled to catch one
big tuna per outing, there wouldn't be much of a problem....

But most tuna fishing is done with large nets.


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