In late November the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) decided to cut the allowable catch of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea by about 20 percent in four years. Earlier, the international commission for conserving southern bluefin tuna had halved Japan's quota in the Pacific and Indian oceans in five years. Still another commission, in session through Friday, is weighing the status of cheaper tunas.
The immediate effect of these decisions for the Japanese will be a rise in tuna prices and less chance of eating toro (fatty tuna flesh). Yet the decisions also serve as a warning of sorts to Japanese consumers to change their "gourmet" eating habits for the sake of sustainable fishing in the future.
A grown-up bluefin tuna is more than three meters long and weighs nearly 400 kg. The Japanese eat more than 40,000 tons of these fish every year or most of the bluefin tuna caught worldwide. The Japanese also consume about a quarter of the global annual tuna catch of 2 million tons. Thus restraint in Japan can reduce overfishing pressures worldwide.