'The Australian who heads fishery management in the Western and...

'The Australian who heads fishery management in the Western and Central Pacific has warned an international agreement is urgently needed to avert disaster for the tuna industry.'

'Professor Glenn Hurry said bluefin and bigeye tuna should no longer be harvested, as stocks were dangerously depleted.'

'He also warned "serious action" needed to be taken to reduce the yellowfin tuna catch. "Yellowfin tuna's down to about 38 per cent of its original spawning biomass," said Professor Hurry, the outgoing executive director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). "Bigeye tuna's down now to about 16 per cent.'

'"In any sense in a well-managed fishery you'd actually stop fishing on that and begin to rebuild the stocks."
Professor Hurry said the situation for bluefin tuna was even more dire, with the Pacific population at "3 or 4 per cent of its original spawning biomass". "It's at a level where you shouldn't be fishing," he said.'

Later in the article, in reference to tuna being a billion dollar industry throughout the Pacific, 'Professor Hurry said fishing companies could reap huge profits. "During the peak period when tuna was $US2,300 a tonne, a vessel taking 15,000 tonnes of tuna a year was probably making $US20 million a year, net profit, over and above cost," he said. "There's very few other businesses in the world where you're going to make that level of profit."'

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-...saster-says-glenn-hurry/5704644?section=world