The Australian southern bluefin tuna industry says massive amounts of illegal fishing prove that fish stocks are stronger than official estimates suggest.
The annual international quota for tuna is 15,000 tons, but it is estimated that 40,000 tons enter the Japanese market each year alone.
The president of the Australian Tuna Boat Owners Association, Brian Jefferies, says illegal fishing is damaging and tighter regulations are needed, but he says there has been a good outcome for the industry.
â€Because there’s been so much more caught and the stock is still sustaining itself then it shows that the basic stock, i.e. the spawning stock, is much larger than people thought,†he said.
But Nicola Beynon from the Humane Society International does not agree.
“Even if there was no fishing whatsoever, ever for southern bluefin tuna, it could still take 25 to 35 years to recover the stock to levels that would be considered biologically safe,†she said.
The Humane Society says illegal fishing must be stopped and legal quotas drastically cut.