Why the Tuna You’re Eating Might Be Closer to Extinct Than You Think
The bluefin tuna is not a fish, it’s a bullet of muscle wrapped in silver armor. Okay, okay, it’s a fish, I was just going for dramatic effect here.
It really is a warm-blooded titan that can cross oceans, dive 3,000 feet deep, and chase prey with the fury of a predator that remembers what the sea used to be.
And it’s vanishing, and that’s not me being overly dramatic. One plate of sushi at a time this fish is disappearing.
A Predator Designed by Evolution
Bluefin tuna are truly marvels of nature. They can swim over 50 miles per hour and regulate their own body temperature, making them apex hunters. They travel thousands of miles to breed, across Atlantic or Pacific corridors to do so. They grow to the size of a grizzly bear…up to 1,500 pounds. Just reread that for a second. A grizzly bear.
Their meat is obviously prized for its richness. It’s the fatty belly, otoro, that fetches thousands in Tokyo fish markets. The flesh is ruby-red, almost indistinguishable from raw beef.
They’re power meets speed with a dash of mystery, and we are eating them into oblivion.
In the early 1970s, sushi was rare outside of Japan, but by the 1990s, it had gone global. Bluefin…once a discard fish used for cat food…became the crown jewel of sushi bars. Scarcity only increased its allure, and today, in Japan, the first tuna of the year is auctioned as a spectacle.
One bluefin sold for $3.1 million in 2019. Restaurants from New York to London began serving it as luxury. Turn anything into status on a plate and demand will soar and fishing fleets expanded.
The tuna didn’t stand a chance.
The Numbers No One Wants to Hear
Atlantic bluefin populations have declined by over 80% since the 1970s. Pacific bluefin have dropped by 97% from historic highs. Only 2.6% of the original spawning stock remains in some regions. Illegal fishing accounts for 20–30% of the global catch
The ocean is emptying, and we’re sitting here watching it.
Bluefin tuna is a billion-dollar business at this point in time. Like anything in the world, with high price tags come dark incentives.
Ships “launder” illegal catch by mixing it with legal quotas. IUU fishing (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) plagues bluefin trade, while black-market fish are often shipped with fake documentation. One investigation found €25 million in illegal tuna circulating through Europe in a single year.
This is not just overfishing at this point, it’s passed that and moved onto organized theft of ecosystems and the future.
You might’ve heard of “sustainable” bluefin, but most tuna farms are not farms at all, they’re feedlots. Wild juvenile tuna are captured, penned, and fattened. These pens deplete wild stocks and require up to 20 pounds of wild fish to feed a single pound of tuna. The opposite of sustainable in every definition of the word in my eyes. They also leak waste into surrounding waters and offer no real reproduction cycle.
Farming bluefin is like putting tigers in zoos and calling it conservation.
I talk about this a lot, but when an apex predator vanishes, the effects cascade in ways that are hard to comprehend. Prey species (like squid or smaller fish) overpopulate, disrupting balance and eat off all their food source. This can cause the prey species to boom then bust as they eat all of their food sources to extinction.
Coral reef and open-water ecosystems begin to shift without predators. Smaller, faster-growing species move in and the ocean becomes a different place.
Bluefin are not just food, they’re engineers of the sea. Remove them, and the whole architecture tilts in ways we aren’t fully prepared to handle.
Why do we mourn pandas and elephants but ignore the extinction of bluefin? Because tuna are food, and food is easy to forget. You don’t look it in the eye or name it. It comes with wasabi, sliced paper-thin and a dash of soy sauce.
There is a violence in that disconnection that allows our ways to continue on, unstopped. And yet, most people who eat bluefin have no idea they’re even consuming an endangered species at this point in time. The disconnect is so strong it’s actually a little wild.
What the Future Holds (If We Let It)
Bluefin breeding has been achieved in captivity in Japan for the first time, so that’s a little hopeful. The U.S. has implemented strict quotas and observer programs and some sushi chefs are switching to amberjack or farmed albacore.
NGOs like Pew and Sea Shepherd are applying legal pressure, but progress is fragile. And every bite matters.
We cannot outsource this responsibility any longer.
Learn which tuna is which if you can. Not all tuna are bluefin. Skipjack and albacore are more sustainable. Use the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app to check before you order.
Avoid “Toro” unless verified. If the menu says “bluefin” or “otoro,” skip it unless it’s certified farmed (and even then, be wary).
Support sushi chefs who care. If they care, you can tell. Many are now experimenting with vegetable-based nigiri, lionfish, and sustainable local catch.
The bluefin didn’t vanish in one bite, it vanished in a million quiet dinners, in chef specials, and i airline lounges. Tuna vanished in all the places where we never looked too closely, but it’s really not too late.
If we listen to the sea and remember that awe is not an unlimited resource and learn to see the fish not as filet, but as the flash of silver beneath the surface…then maybe they can come back.
The ocean forgives more than we deserve, but only if we stop asking it to forgive so much.
Next Read: Why The Ocean Tastes Different Now, a chilling tale of the change we are in the midst of.
Other Reads You Might Enjoy:
The Colossal Squid Is Real and Our Oceans Just Got a Whole Lot Creepier
The Day the Ocean Whispered Less: When Blue Whales Began to Go Silent
The Whale That Would Not Let Death Pass: Why Humpbacks Keep Crashing Orca Hunts
The Sound of Extinction: How Disappearing Animals Take Silence With Them
The Plants That Predict Earthquakes: Is Nature Trying to Warn Us?
The Sound of Trees Crying: What Plants Really Do When They’re Stressed
The Secret Life of Soil: Why Healthy Dirt Might Be Smarter Than You Think
Disclaimer: Data on species status changes over time. This article is based on publicly available conservation research at the time of writing. For the latest updates, consult reputable conservation databases such as the IUCN Red List.
