--- title: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Near Extinction, Conservationists Warn description: A dwindling population of bluefin tuna could vanish from the Pacific ocean for good, conservationists warned on Tuesday canonical: https://time.com/3589062/pacific-bluefin-tuna-extinction-watch-list/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-17T15:32:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:21.146Z article:section: Science og:title: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Near Extinction, Conservationists Warn og:description: A dwindling population of bluefin tuna could vanish from the Pacific ocean for good, conservationists warned on Tuesday og:url: https://time.com/3589062/pacific-bluefin-tuna-extinction-watch-list/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccbc9f8f01319814/698768ff2dce014ec89dbd01/457688744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Blue-Fin Tuna Farm Operations At Kinki University Fisheries Laboratory As Seafood Proves Sweet Spot In Japanese Exports og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Near Extinction, Conservationists Warn twitter:description: A dwindling population of bluefin tuna could vanish from the Pacific ocean for good, conservationists warned on Tuesday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccbc9f8f01319814/698768ff2dce014ec89dbd01/457688744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are 4 More Vulnerable Fish to Avoid Next Time You're at the Sushi Bar > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The Trouble with Tuna [Watch (HLS stream): The Trouble with Tuna](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nWITPNR9.m3u8) (3:07)  _Published 2009-11-02. An exporter in the Philppine port of General Santos City, says big yellowfin tuna is getting harder to catch because of overfishing_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 17, 2014 3:32 PM UTC  A farmed blue-fin tuna on board a boat at a fish farm operated by the laboratory in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014. A farmed blue-fin tuna on board a boat at a fish farm operated by the laboratory in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014. Tomohiro Ohsumi—Bloomberg / Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 17, 2014 3:32 PM UTC A dwindling population of bluefin tuna is among the species of fish that could vanish from the Pacific ocean for good, conservationists [warned](http://www.iucn.org/news%5Fhomepage/?18621/Global-appetite-for-resources-pushing-new-species-to-the-brink--IUCN-Red-List) on Tuesday, unless constraints are placed on commercial fisheries that target the highly sought after fish. The International Union for Conservation of Nature added Pacific bluefin tuna to its “vulnerable” list of more than 22,000 species threatened with extinction, according to IUCN’s conservationists. The tuna was joined by American eels, Chinese pufferfish, and Chinese cobras. “The Pacific Bluefin Tuna market value continues to rise,” said the organization’s tuna and billfish specialist Bruce Collette. Without curbing catches of juvenile fish, he added, “we cannot expect its status to improve in the short term.” The group estimates that the population has diminished by 19% — 33% over the past 22 years. ## Transcript >> I originally came to the Philippines in 1974 as a Peace Corps volunteer, stayed around, ended up getting married, started a family and figured out I had to get a job and do something so I got involved in the tuna business. >> For more than 20 years, John Heitz has been buying fish from the waters off the Philippine Port of General Santos. -[ foreign language ] >> I'm working with basically handline caught tuna, shipping first class bawdy fish, fresh fish to the United States and Japan. >> Global demand for sashimi and canned tuna has never been higher but finding the fish has never been harder. >> Probably in the last year our sales, our shipments have gone down by 50 percent, about half of what they were at this time last year. The economic situation in Japan and the United States has affected sales a lot. Recently supply has been dwindling for the freshest, best quality fish. >> General Santos has been known as the 'Tuna Capital' of the Philippines for decades. Not only is it a major hub for the sashimi export market, it's home to six of the country's seven tuna canneries. Everybody in General Santos has some connection to the tuna business. That used to be a good thing. >> The fish has become less and less, the fish has become farther and farther and more difficult to catch and that's just the way it is. Before our guys could go out and maybe one day, two days come back with ten fish. Now guys maybe they could go out one or two days, come back with maybe one or two fish, three fish. >> The waters around the Philippines have been overfished. The fishermen that sail to heights have to travel further from shore now to find yellowfin, the kind of tuna he exports for sashimi and the smaller skipjack tuna that's sold in cans. With high fuel prices fewer small boats can afford to go out that far and the bigger boats that do make the long trip are under pressure to bring home as much fish as they can. >> Populations have dwindled in the Southern Philippines- Indonesia area so they just have to start, people have to start realizing this and conserving the resources. >> Fishing laws have been loose here but that may change as more people see their paychecks diminish. >> 1- 3- 4- 4- 9 1- 3- 4- 4- 9 Mar-- >> When fish go everyone loses, be it the fishing boat workers of General Santos to the sushi bar customers in California. >> Under-- we have to understand the consequences of our actions basically. If we drive a car too fast down the road we might cause an accident. Same thing if we want too much of a certain type of food product then maybe we have to change our ways. If we don't protect and respect this resource we will lose it, we will lose it. 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