EU Trims Tuna Catch, Experts Warn: 'Not Enough'

The European Commission completed a deal this week cutting back on the fishing of bluefin tuna, the Economist reports, but not sharply enough to save the species, scientists argue. The deal gradually reduces the legal catch from 28,500 tons this year to 19,950 tons in 2010—but conservationists believe a limit of 15,000 tons next year is necessary.

In fact, computer models of the bluefin population suggest that stocks have been so damaged by overfishing that even if none were caught from today on, the population would still collapse. Dissatisfied with the commission’s new regulations, environmental groups are now trying to get the bluefin classified as endangered.
(More bluefin tuna stories.)