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Sushi lovers may be eating Critically Endangered species without knowing it Jeremy Hance mongabay.com November 24, 2009 "When you eat sushi, you can unknowingly get a critically endangered species on your plate," says Jacob Lowenstein, a graduate student affiliated with the Museum and Columbia University. "But with an increasingly popular technique, DNA barcoding, it is a simple process for researchers to see just what species are eaten at a sushi bar." It wasn't just endangered species that were on the menu: restaurants also served a fish called 'escolar', which is banned in Italy and Japan because it can cause gastrointestinal distress. Five of nine sushi samples that were labeled as "white tuna" were not tuna at all, but were in fact escolar. "It is very difficult to get reliable information about the species you are eating, especially since the FDA's approved market name for all eight species of Thunnus is simply 'tuna'," explains Lowenstein. He adds that if the FDA required that tuna be listed as individual species, it would allow consumers to make an informed decision. There are three species of bluefin tuna: Pacific bluefin, Northern bluefin, and southern bluefin. Both the northern and the southern bluefin are classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The Pacific bluefin is considered Vulnerable. Scientists with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) recently recommended that the fishery end harvesting of the Atlantic tuna, or northern bluefin tuna, due to overfishing. ICCAT, however, ignored the advice of its scientists and set a quota for this year of 13,500 tons of fish. Related articles ICCAT fails to protect critically endangered tuna—again (11/15/2009) The International Commissions for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) ignored the advice of its scientists to end fishing of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Instead ICAAT set a quota of 13,500 tons of fish. This is not the first time ICCAT has flouted its own researchers' advice: it has repeatedly set quotas well-above its researchers' recommendations. Atlantic bluefin tuna should be banned internationally: ICCAT scientists (10/29/2009) Scientists with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) have said in a new report that a global ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing is justified. ICCAT meets in November to decide if they will follow their scientist's recommendations. Marine scientist calls for abstaining from seafood to save oceans 
(06/08/2009) In April marine scientist Jennifer Jacquet made the case on her blog Guilty Planet that people should abstain from eating seafood to help save life in the ocean. With fish populations collapsing worldwide and scientists sounding warnings that ocean ecosystems—as edible resources—have only decades left, it is perhaps surprising that Jacquet’s call to abstain from consuming seafood is a lone voice in the wilderness, but thus far few have called for seafood lovers to abstain.
Sushi restaurant, Nobu, warns patrons not to eat bluefin tuna, but serves it anyway (05/27/2009) Last year, Nobu was caught red-handed serving critically-endangered bluefin tuna to patrons, even after servers claimed its tuna was not bluefin. Now after heavy criticism, the trendy restaurant, owned by Robert DeNiro and popular with celebrities, has finally taken action. SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
Tags: Fish Fishing overfishing endangered species saving species from extinction oceans conservation jeremy hance green environment food
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