A record price is paid for a tuna. It’s a ridiculous price for a fish that is for sure. A marketing stunt? You would hope that high prices and scarcity would reduce demand, but economics and sushinomics are not that scientific. Pacific and Atlantic tuna are once again under threat. For years WCPFC and ICCAT proved to be ineffective in their primary role – the conservation of tuna. This was primarily because, as with many intergovernmental institutions, the organisation had no statutory authority. Enforcement of the recommendations and responsibility for compliance still rests with Contracting Party Countries. However both organisations consistently ignored the recommendations of their scientific and statistics committees. ICCAT at least eventually got it right, introducing a far reaching recovery plan only then to blow it by cutting the plan short by several years just as stocks were improving. You can read my blog post on that point.
Are we about to see Atlantic and Pacific tuna take another nosedive towards extinction as we did in the 1980s because of a fad? Unfortunately the threats to this species are far from over.