Sorry no hard facts for you. Honestly don't have the time to find them and put them up, have enough on my plate with my own PhD research at the moment.
I have however read a few scientific publications on the issue. As stated earlier canned tuna is typically not blue or yellow fin, it is albacore or another smaller species. These tend to have a faster life cycle and reproduce at younger ages and smaller sizes. Much more sustainable currently. The big species (yellow and blue fin) are relatively long lived fish which take 5 years or more to begin reproducing. As with most fish the larger they get the more offspring they produce per season, so one large mature female may produce as many eggs as 3 or more smaller females. For a species that lives 50 years or more taking small reproductive fish out of the population takes away a lot of breeding potential for the species.
At the current fishing pressures and decreasing sizes of caught fish we are getting dangerously close to harvesting fish prior to breeding sizes for these two species. Since both species migrate and live in international waters most of their lives this is a difficult fisher to manage. Farming efforts are now underway but this opens up a whole other list of environmental issues, most importantly the over harvesting of sardines and anchovies to feed the caged tuna. They dump much more in to the cage than the tuna would ever find on their own, which grows the tuna faster and makes them fattier (worth more) but also much of the food fish are wasted as they fall through the cages uneaten.
Swordfish and marlins are in the same boat as well unfortunately, no pun intended. All of these macro predators are getting to the point of over harvesting if they are not already well beyond it.
I have enjoy fish as much as the next person. Do I eat tuna at times, yes. Sushi and tuna steaks are something I enjoy from time to time, but not as a staple to my diet. My staple seafoods are highly sustainable invertebrates like shrimp and crabs as well as farmed fish like tilapia, catfish, and salmon.
Unlike the OP I will not say that we need to stop eating them all together. But I do agree that those in this hobby should be mass aware of the issues that some fish are facing. We may ultimately make the same decisions when purchasing our food or our fish's food, but at least we will make informed decisions.
I have however read a few scientific publications on the issue. As stated earlier canned tuna is typically not blue or yellow fin, it is albacore or another smaller species. These tend to have a faster life cycle and reproduce at younger ages and smaller sizes. Much more sustainable currently. The big species (yellow and blue fin) are relatively long lived fish which take 5 years or more to begin reproducing. As with most fish the larger they get the more offspring they produce per season, so one large mature female may produce as many eggs as 3 or more smaller females. For a species that lives 50 years or more taking small reproductive fish out of the population takes away a lot of breeding potential for the species.
At the current fishing pressures and decreasing sizes of caught fish we are getting dangerously close to harvesting fish prior to breeding sizes for these two species. Since both species migrate and live in international waters most of their lives this is a difficult fisher to manage. Farming efforts are now underway but this opens up a whole other list of environmental issues, most importantly the over harvesting of sardines and anchovies to feed the caged tuna. They dump much more in to the cage than the tuna would ever find on their own, which grows the tuna faster and makes them fattier (worth more) but also much of the food fish are wasted as they fall through the cages uneaten.
Swordfish and marlins are in the same boat as well unfortunately, no pun intended. All of these macro predators are getting to the point of over harvesting if they are not already well beyond it.
I have enjoy fish as much as the next person. Do I eat tuna at times, yes. Sushi and tuna steaks are something I enjoy from time to time, but not as a staple to my diet. My staple seafoods are highly sustainable invertebrates like shrimp and crabs as well as farmed fish like tilapia, catfish, and salmon.
Unlike the OP I will not say that we need to stop eating them all together. But I do agree that those in this hobby should be mass aware of the issues that some fish are facing. We may ultimately make the same decisions when purchasing our food or our fish's food, but at least we will make informed decisions.
