Forest & Bird is appalled that the government has agreed to a hike in the quota of critically endangered southern bluefin tuna.
Fisheries Ministry chief executive Wayne McNee has signalled a 27 per cent in-season increase in the catch of southern bluefin tuna from 420 tonnes to 532 tonnes.


Bluefish tuna

'Increasing the quota of our critically endangered southern bluefin tuna is about making money in the short term and the end of this species in the long term,” says Forest & Bird marine conservation advocate Kirstie Knowles.
'Southern bluefin tuna are highly migratory species at the top of oceanic food webs. 'Along with other migratory species, they play an important role in regulating our ocean ecosystems. Increasing the quota poses a direct threat to their survival and to the ecological integrity of our ocean systems.”