bluefin

The seemingly insatiable demand for Atlantic bluefins has led to a serious depletion of stocks by fishing ships using the latest technology, including advanced sonar and spotter planes, to follow shoals and catch as many tuna as they can, said Marta Crespo, spokeswoman for a local association of almadraba fishermen.

Japan is the world's biggest consumer of seafood, with Japanese eating 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught.

Freshly caught bluefins routinely jet worldwide before ending up in tiny pieces between a pair of chopsticks.

If a ban is approved, countries still would be allowed to catch bluefins for domestic consumption.

Because Atlantic bluefins have spawning grounds on both sides of the Atlantic (and perhaps in the middle, some scientists say), management agencies have treated them as two distinct populations: western bluefins that spawn in and near the Gulf of Mexico and eastern bluefins that spawn in the Mediterranean.

But a new study shows that when bluefins are young, they don't always stick to their side of the ocean.

The new closures will add further protection not only for the bluefins which spawn here, but for other important sportfish in the area, too.

The greater mobility of bluefins is just one insight to come from a new generation of fish-tagging experiments, explains Barbara A.

Years ago, the month of May was ruled by the big daddy of gamefish, bluefin tuna.

Atlantic bluefin tuna really get around -- and that's why they may not get around much any more if something isn't done to reform a quota system that allows overfishing, especially on the European side of the North Atlantic.