By Atuna
In a recent interview, Mr. Yoshio Ishizuka, director of the Fisheries Research Agency of Japan announced that bluefin tuna is not an endangered species: “What I wish for ordinary consumers to know is that tunas are by no means an endangered species like coelacanth†he said. He believes that bluefin tuna is a species that has sustained continuous annual catch in the amount of “several tens of thousand tonsâ€:
“It is quite different from a rare species whose number can be scarcely counted. If tuna stock management is implemented properly, we can be assured that the stock size will increase. Fish, not only tunas, are the resources that can be used nearly permanently in the future if they are used in an appropriate mannerâ€, he pointed out.
The contradiction of such statement lies on the fact that Japan is one of the greatest investor on bluefin farming research, as the same interview points out: “The number of bluefin tuna juveniles used as seeds for tuna farming in Japan is said to be 400.000 to 500.000 fish. There is no problem when the recruitment is large. But when it is small, the catch can give a negative impact on the population because it is wild fish that are used for farming. For this reason, we have been promoting development of production technology of artificial seeds in cooperation with Kinki University and private corporations. Last year, Kinki University shipped about 30,000 seeds to private tuna farmers.â€
In addition, Mr. Ishizuka announced that the Agency is currently undergoing a study to produce high-quality tunas by examining genetic information:
“We are now analyzing the genetic base sequences of tunas with the aim to produce tunas having high growth rate and those having a strong resistance against disease. It is our hope to contribute to production of disease-resistant tunas by examining what kind of information the sequences take command.â€
The Japan Fisheries Research Agency has 10% of its staff working on tuna based projects, from a total of 500 scientists.