Oh, New Zealand, land of both the long white cloud and mined national parks. Can I get a side serving of potential pro-whaling and pathetic floundering in international climate talks? Holla.
You’d think Aotearoa, having truckloads of endangered creatures, would be leading the game in protecting species at risk. Not true. Your mistake would be akin to saying Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a fine piece of film. On the contrary: currently New Zealand is trying to catch more of a critically endangered species, despite stocks of this particular fish being at an all-time low.
The species in question is the magnificent southern bluefin tuna. All streamlined curves and weighing up to 450kg, this gorgeous fish is the sexy Salma Hayek of the piscean world. We’re not talking about canned tuna here; this is not the kind that you stir into your cheesy pasta bake on Tuesday nights. This is top-end, fancy pants tuna. If normal tuna is Double Brown beer, Bluefin would be the equivalent of Emersons. Seafood markets and classy sushi restaurants revere these animals, and a single fish can fetch a price higher than three medical students’ loans put together.
The cousin of the southern bluefin, the Atlantic bluefin, is also super rare. There’s a big endangered species convention going on right now (until the 25th March) where 175 nations will decide whether, among the usual crusades for saving elephants and polar bears, to put a worldwide ban on Atlantic bluefin into place. Apparently it’s going to be a close fight to save this fish, as Australia and Japan remain strongly opposed, despite the EU and the US backing the proposal. Japanese fish-brokers have been quoted saying things like “This is like telling the US to stop eating beef.” Man, do I ever wish I could tell the US to stop eating beef. There’s a challenge for a rainy day.
While the US and EU are standing up for sustainability, our ‘100% Pure’ country has devious plans to increase our total allowable catch on Southern Bluefin Tuna. Overall, the southern bluefin fisheries have an inadequate aim of cutting fishing by 20 per cent annually, but New Zealand doesn’t care. We want more tuna, despite the species’ levels having dropped to 5 per cent of what they were. Let’s keep fishing even if the stock has completely collapsed. We want profit at whatever cost.
Really, we should be stopping southern bluefin tuna completely in its tracks. We need an international ban so that Southern Bluefin Tuna can recover from years of over-fishing.
Allow me to tangent briefly. You know who really annoy me? Pescatarians—‘vegetarians’ who still eat fish. Some do it for health reasons, some only disdain eating food with faces, but it makes no sense. Overfishing is one of the biggest impact humans have had on the planet. Yes, please eat your self-caught trout, but don’t support industrial scale fishing operations or farmed fish.
Bluefin tuna is just one issue in a long line. Patagonian toothfish has just been put onto New Zealand Quota Management System, even though it’s now not being stocked by eight of Canada’s main supermarket chains. Internationally, New Zealand is increasingly being seen in a new light, a red light, perhaps infused with fish blood? We’re not keeping our jandal-clad feet up to speed with the rest of the world.
What’s happening to tuna is simply symbolic of an extensive decline in international fish stocks. We are devastating the oceans. Everything is definitely not better down where it’s wetter, under the sea.