Word: bluefin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...army marches on its stomach, then the key item in the kit bags of the Roman legions that conquered southern Europe about 2,000 years ago was dried bluefin tuna. But having survived the demands of the Roman conquest, the species - each of which can weigh as much as 1,500 lbs. and live as long as 40 years - might finally have met its match in the contemporary global appetite for sushi...
...Morocco THE END OF TUNA After a weeklong summit in Marrakech, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas slashed its 2009 quota for bluefin-tuna fishing from 27,500 tons to 22,000--a figure that still far outstrips the 15,000-ton limit marine scientists say is needed to prevent the species' extinction. Environmental groups called the meeting a "disaster" and blamed the European Commission for scuttling a proposal that would have imposed stricter regulations...
...through the fish they buy. To that end, California's Monterey Bay Aquarium, along with the Blue Ocean Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund, is coming out with pocket guides to sustainable sushi. The groups base their ratings on the health of a wild fish's population (the popular bluefin tuna is restricted), along with the impacts of fish-farming operations. (Fast-growing oysters can be farmed sustainably, but salmon can't.) They also take into account fishing practices: catching bigeye tuna with thousand-hooked longlines can result in the unintended death of nearby fish. The hope is that...
...Southern bluefin is the good stuff - it's the ultimate sashimi. Left alone, the tuna lives to 40 and can reach more than 2 m and 200 kg. But it hasn't been left alone. While it can hit speeds of 70 km/h and dive deeper than 500 m, the path of its annual migration, from Indonesia into the waters of southern Australia, is well known to fishing fleets. And since it starts spawning only after nine years and is usually caught much younger, southern bluefin hasn't reproduced enough to repopulate. In the 1960s fishers took 80,000 tons...
...China and Europe as alternative markets. Growing global demand will drive up prices, he says: "I used to catch one [metric] ton of tuna for $50. Now we get $76,000 for one fish." That was unusual, though. The Japanese today pay around $23/kg, making an average southern bluefin worth around...