The Bluefin Tuna is the biggest tuna of them all weighing approximately three quarters of a ton and reaching a length of four meters. The blue fin tuna is a rare species in that it is a warm blooded fish. The blue fin can maintain body temperature at 81 degrees F when diving one kilometer under the surface. PART 1

The blue fin tuna hunt in large packs. They create a parabola that concentrates the prey, making it easier for the hunters to close in. The blue fin are not particularly picky eaters, as they have been known to eat fast swimming mackerel to bottom-dwelling flounder or sedentary sponge. PART 2

The blue fin was not always a delicacy food before the last 100 years. Before then it was thought of only be suitable for dogs and cats. When people first starting fishing the blue fin they did it for sport because they are known fro their powerful fight they give. The blue fin did not become a valuable food fish until the 20 th century when sushi became a common item on menus around the world. PART 3

The blue fin is now one of the most endangered species in the world, but is still hunted regularly. There are two major populations of blue fin, one being the North American blue fin, ones that bred in the gulf of Mexico, and the other being ones that spawned in the Mediterranean sea. PART 4

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), is a board that was established in 1969, and set boundaries fro how many blue fin tuna could be hunted out of the two populations every year. Even with the committee in place the hunting of blue fin tuna has not slowed down. Fishermen lie about their catch when they have to fill out their quota for the year, and with so many people doing this the blue fin is disappearing quick. PART 5

There have been more rules set in place for what blue fin can be hunted. Like you cannot take undersized tuna out of the Mediterranean sea, but there are no rules banning the catch of immature tuna and raising them in captivity till they are full grown and sell them then. This does not allow the species to reproduce, and is strangling the species almost to extinction. PART 6

The over hunting of blue fin tuna has an impact of all American lives. With having less and less tuna able to catch and sell means no sushi with that type of fish in it, and can take away many jobs. With not being able to fish this species can leave many families without a job, and put people in hard situations. PART 7

The Bluefin appears to be in great danger in the West Atlantic. Even though the ICCAT has strict catch quotas in the West Atlantic since 1981 Part of the problem is that the Bluefin's from the West Atlantic migrate to the eastern part of the ocean, where the catch quotas are 10x higher PART 8

Tuna Pens, accelerate the demise of the Bluefin, towed across the Mediterranean Sea to the tuna ranches near Sicily Each pen can reach an amount of 100 tons of tuna Tuna ranchers feed big groups of the Bluefin's till they become fat enough to be sold The dead tuna pieces are sent to Los Angeles International Airport, where they have a nonstop flight to Japan PART 9

Bluefin’s are captured in a many places but, Australia has the most success with breeding the Bluefin's back but the Japanese and the Europeans are right on their tail An Example, of these research teams trying to reproduce the Bluefin is when the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Puerto de Mazzaron, Spain retrieved eggs and sperms from captive Atlantic Bluefin broodstock, and performed vitro fertilization and produced larvae PART 10