An Examination of Sustainable Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna Stock

Abstract

This paper addresses a fundamental question in conservation ecology, which is the balance between rebuilding of a species’ population and exploiting them, by examining an appropriate sustainable management regulation for Pacific Bluefin tuna. The population of Pacific Bluefin tuna has been heavily depleted to just 2.6% of its historic unfished size by many years of overfishing. In order to rebuild the population, an immediate implementation of a moratorium on all commercial fishing was proposed by NGOs such as the Pew Charitable Trusts and Greenpeace. The primary objective of this paper is to examine the necessity of the moratorium as a sustainable stock management regulation. The paper concludes that an additional 10% reduction in catch limit of fish less than 30 kg could be a better alternative management regulation than a total ban on all fishing. This option can increase the probability of the stock recovery, while allowing to catch as many large fishes as under the current management regulation. Through the examination of sustainable stock management for Pacific Bluefin tuna, it can be said that it is important to consider the balance between the recovery of the population and utilization of them. Since millions of people rely on the consumption of the species, it is more realistic to gradually rebuild the population with an intermediate target and an efficient additional catch limit. This consideration can be applied to conservation of other species such as whales and eels.