Bluefin Tuna at Risk in Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico

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Treehugger is devoting a considerable amount of coverage to the fate of the bluefin tuna, a critically-endangered fish whose stocks have plummeted by 90 percent since the 1970s. (As you may recall, Peter Smith wrote about the near extinction of the tuna earlier this year.)

The site first looks at Operation Blue Rage's efforts to stop illegal fishing operations in the Mediterranean, where poachers are responsible for taking "four times more fish than the legal quota."

The bluefin tuna has a stake in oil-spill-affected waters of the Gulf of Mexico, too. According to the CBC:

Many fish are going down to the Gulf to spawn," said Jackie Savitz, a marine biologist with Oceana, an international conservation group based in Washington.

"The larvae of the fish is actually the most sensitive life stage to the toxic effects of oil. And one fish that's spawning right now down there is the bluefin tuna."

Photo via Treehugger via NOAA\n