The Scottish Salmon Company operates at Loch Roag in the Outer Hebrides. It is believed that the warmer seas around the outer Hebrides due to climate change has caused an influx of tuna. On this occasion one of these enormous fish with an estimated weight of 47-stone or 300 kg crashed through the salmon farmers’ nets travelling at high speed while chasing mackerel. Tuna can reach speeds of 40 mph. As the net was torn they repaired it. They were able to safely capture the tuna and return it to the open sea. This is not the first time that a tuna has been trapped within fish farm nets and released. The Scottish Salmon Company are fitting stronger netting. I have no further information. If I had I’d provide it.
Bluefin tuna overfished
The bluefin tuna is heavily overfished. The species is considered endangered with a decreasing population unsurprisingly. They are popular as human food because they are huge lots of meat on them. Bluefin tuna numbers are at historically low levels. Bluefin tuna is very expensive in Japan because of the law of supply and demand. Demand is high and supply is diminishing. The self-proclaimed Japanese “Tuna King” paid a record-breaking $3.1 million for a 612-pound bluefin tuna. That breaks down to $5,064 per pound in weight. It is made to produce sushi rolls.
The bluefin is the largest of the tuna subspecies. They can live to 40 years of age. They migrate across all the oceans and can dive to 3000 feet. They are strong predators and hunt by sight as they have the sharpest eyesight of any bony fish. WWF say that tuna stocks are overexploited and there is little room for expansion. Stocks may collapse. As tuna are a top predator in the marine food chain, they help to maintain a balance in the ocean environment (source: WWF).
