Southern bluefin tuna

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Southern bluefin tuna

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Scombridae
Genus:	Thunnus
Species:	T. maccoyii

Binomial name

Thunnus maccoyii
(Castelnau, 1872)

The southern bluefin tuna, Thunnus maccoyii, is a tuna of the family Scombridae found in open southern hemisphere waters of all the worlds oceans mainly between 30°S and 50°S, to nearly 60°S. At up to 2.5 m and weighing up to 400 kg it is one of the largest bony fishes.

The southern bluefin tuna is a large streamlined fast swimming fish with a long slender caudal peduncle and relatively short dorsal, pectoral and anal fins. The body is completely covered in small scales.

The body colour is blue-black on the back and silver-white on the flanks and belly, with bright yellow caudal keels in adult specimens. The first dorsal fin colour is grey with a yellow tinge, the second dorsal is red-brown, and the finlets are yellow with a darker border.

The southern bluefin tuna is an opportunistic feeder, preying on a wide variety of fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods, salps, and other marine animals.

[edit] Catch and management

The southern bluefin tuna is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[1]

In 1994 the then existing voluntary management arrangement between Australia, Japan and New Zealand was formalised when the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna came into force. The Convention created the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT). Its objective is to ensure, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilisation of the global southern bluefin tuna fishery. Later, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines have joined, or are cooperating with, the Commission. The CCSBT is headquartered in Canberra, Australia.

At the annual meeting of the Commission in October 2006, which also included representatives from the European Union, it was agreed to cut the global catch by more than 20%, with Japan halving its quota. Prior to this meeting, Japan was accused by Australia of overfishing its quota by 2-3 times every year during the last 20 years.^[2] Japan disputes this figure, but acknowledges that some overfishing has occurred in the past.^[3]

[edit] References

"Parapercis maccoyii". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London. ISBN 0-09-189780-7