Big eye tuna, a prime source for Japanese restaurants worldwide serving sushie and sashimi are on the verge of collapse from overfishing, a report said.
A collapse would have a profound effect on fishing fleets as well as on processing and trading industries in Japan and Taiwan according to Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, which is partly run by a conservation group.
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Maldives, which have artisanal fleets and provide processing centers for large fish vessels could also be affected.
Scientists demand a sharp reduction in the catch of the big eye tuna but over the past decade the advice has been ignored according to the International Marine Program of a conservation group.
Member countries of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission were enjoined to agree on a fourteen percent cut in fishing before its too late, ahead of their forthcoming meeting in this regard to be held in Guam.
Organizations which regulate fishing on the high sea have been generally very slow to respond to scientist’s advice and have failed to address the problem of overfishing of the big eye tuna, the study said.
Campaigners had said that stocks of the blue Mediterranean blue fish tuna, another staple of Japanese cuisine, were facing exhaustion due also to overfishing.
