The King Of Sushi

Growing Demand For Sushi Is Having A Big Impact On The Bluefin Population

(CBS)  It's something that Roberto Mielgo has seen firsthand. He was around when purse seiners first started fishing for tuna in the Mediterranean.

"How many of these vessels are there in the Mediterranean right now?" Simon asks.

"Maybe 39 French, six Spanish. Sixty Tunisians. I would say 60 Croatians. I would say 120 Turkish. Ninety-two Italian," Mielgo explains.

Mielgo says it's a huge business and that the stakes are very high. He has seen as many as 300 tons of bluefin tuna, worth as much as $2 million, trapped inside one of these nets.

Divers open a gap and count them as they're transferred into pens the size of a football field. Tugboats then slowly drag the pens with the live tuna inside to tuna ranches.

"To me the word ranching refers to cattle," Simon remarks.

"Yes. But, you do not breed the bluefin tuna at the ranch," Mielgo explains. "You actually fatten the fish to gain up to 20 percent weight."

They feed them sardines and mackerel; they control the color and the flavor. In three to six months, the tuna will be big enough and fat enough to harvest. Ninety percent of them will go to Japan, which imports as much tuna as it can - any tuna, some half a million tons a year. Most of the tuna is blast frozen on board ships, which arrive in Japanese ports everyday.

They are stored in giant freezer rooms at a bone-chilling minus 75 degrees Fahrenheit. At any given time, there are over 60,000 tons of frozen tuna stockpiled in what some call Japan's strategic reserve.

Freezing tuna at such low temperatures has transformed what was once a fresh delicacy into a commodity, with virtually no expiration date.

The king of sushi is no longer treated like royalty. It is scraped and planed and then cut up into blocks. This tuna will make its way to supermarkets and thousands of low-end sushi restaurants, where you can eat a piece of bluefin for as little as 50 cents. The industry's ability to supply the global market with inexpensive sushi has stoked demand, and that has created a Mediterranean gold rush.

These days, Roberto Mielgo spends his time tracking fishing boats and monitoring catches. And he's found that the international quotas which limit tuna fishing are not being enforced. And those spotter planes? They’re officially banned, but are still hunting tuna. Illegal fishing is rampant.

"And if this trend continues?" Simon asks.

"All I can say, is that if we carry on like this, we are bound to catastrophe. I mean, it's as simple as that. No more fish. No more industry. No more culture," Mielgo predicts.

And no more mattanza. This may well be the last year that the weary fishermen of Carloforte raise their flag, telling their village that they've had a catch. The future of fishing in the Mediterranean is no longer in their hands - it's in the hands of large fishing fleets, who are in a race to catch the last tuna.

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Back in Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the most expensive tuna sold this year went to a buyer from Hong Kong, reflecting China's growing appetite for sushi. The price: $55,000.

[Junglepam]

Ok no disagreement on the role that Japan plays here but didn't anyone even note that the market is insatiable WORLD WIDE? Its not just Japan, you can buy Sushi EVERYWHERE in the U.S. So before you brand the evil Japanese and terrible Chinese, ask yourself how often you pick up sushi in the supermarket, or hey how often do you buy TUNA in a can, or eat tuna at a restaurant in any form?

You know before we all blame people halfway around the world we need to look at our own actions. The problem is humans consume everything, food, natural resources etc... tuna is just the latest hot comodity. The reality is no matter what we as a race eat, its going to impact our environment.

Eating healthy could be partially to blame, less red meat more fish. What is the impact of that?

[Dmaster911]

Although I don't like how fast we are depleting the fish population, sushi is extremely delicious. I am apart of a program called NaGISA, and our goal is to examine the causes behind the population changes in wildlife around the globe.

http://steakmeatsushi.com
http://www.nwfnagisa.com

[no_nonesense]

I posted a comment on 9/7. What happened to it? There was also a poster before me. It''s not here either.

[superdem]

I saw a special on the Australian tuna fishing industry. They spot the schools from a plane, then the first boat motors into the school, throwing out live and frozen anchovies to keep the school clustered around this boat while a second ship lays a huge net all around the school. Then they catch one or two with a hook and line to gauge the average size, since tuna group together by size. If the tuna are the right size, they take the entire school alive, and put them into floating pens which are dragged around the ocean until they have their "quota" then the floating pens are dragged back home where the live tuna are "fattened up" - it was fascinating but I kept thinking - not a single fish got away, entire schools are captured, hundreds of thousands of these fish and none of them would ever reproduce. They were handled with kid gloves because even one bruise or injury to the fish rendered it almost worthless to the Japanese - yes, all these fish were destined for Japan to fetch these incredible prices. No wonder these fish are being driven to extinction.

[lynnk8]

I find it appalling, offensive and gringe whenever I hear people call "raw fish" sushi.... when Bob Simon did this report on Tuna, I finally had it! I would think that he would of looked up the word he was reporting on and make the correction to the world! Let''s get this straight Mr Simon and everyone else - "Sushi" is cooked RICE made with vinegar and usually wrapped with nori (but not always). "Sashimi" (pronounced: sa-she-me) is cut raw fish.

[gerrycgc]

The extinction of Bluefin may not happen. As Tuna Steaks are now considered a High Mercury Fish. You should eat only occasionally because of the high mercury content. One day they could be considered toxic waste!

[gerrycgc]

The extinction of Bluefin may not happen. As Tuna Steaks are now considered a High Mercury Fish. You should eat only occasionally because of the high mercury content. One day they could be considered toxic waste!

[wineberry]

Well, I correct myself in saying the disappearance of the human species. What I should have said is the disappearance of money from the earth, for that is what is fueling most of the near extinction of wild animals from the planet, and eventually the extinction all of them. What will humans that are killing off animals for profit do then? Perhaps people were given dominion over the earth, but people kill living things that are more intelligent than they are on a daily basis. Someday nature will strike back in a big way.

[wineberry]

The disappearance of the human species is probably the best thing that could happen for the animal, and perhaps plant species of the world.

[hypnotoad72]

What about using tuna and salmon? A fish is a fish.

[lewiston14]

Well soon it will all be gone.

[bamabratt-2009]

Good report, these are endangered. Too bad they didn''t mention that Robert Deniro''s restaurant chain, Nobu, in London, is selling bluefin illegally and passing it off as yellowfin. It''s gotten impossible to look at 60 minutes objectively, it''s so left-biased. But DeNiro is a big liberal environmental guy, so of course they don''t mention it.

[burtonway]

This story is SO pathetic because fish are being stockpiled like commodities for future reserve like currency. News Programs like 60 Minutes once had the responsability to REPORT stories like this.

NOW, Media Congloms and their BILLIONAIRE owners (Murdoch, Restone, et al) have the DUTY to act upon these, instead of STOCKPILING their billions for future waste. NOW is the time to act responsably towards saving these incredible animals that are here for the People and the generations of People.

FACEBOOK should also act upon this type of story to EXPOSE the gluttons and corporations that stockpile living treasures and convert them into EXTINCT currency. Wake up, People.

[mauramia-2009]

An utterly grotesque and savage way to treat these magnificent creatures, all to stuff down the Japanese palate.

[inusmurf]

Has anybody ever done any research on the company that is spotting the Tuna?
According to American records this airplane (N53420) is a 1974 CESSNA 337G, registered to AIR CAROLINE INC on . This company is located at 3511 SILVERSIDE RD SUITE 105 in Wilmington, Delaware. This aircraft was issued an Airworthiness certificate by the FAA on 05/04/2005.

[crabwriter]

This story could have taken place about a number of fisheries throughout the world. The collapse of the Bering Sea King, Bairdi, and Opilio crab stocks can be traced directly to the Japanese. Their greed and unrelenting quest to eliminate species to satisfy their palate was witnessed by all of us who fished it. Not to mention the U.S. bureaucracies created to keep this from happening. The Bering Sea is dying faster than the world''s climate is changing. As a 20 year veteran ex-crabber, all I can say is watch out, China is next is line at the buffet!

[nothoney-2009]

The fish in this story were treated like a commodity and very little was said about their amazing abilities and importance to marine ecosystems. The point of the story was not that we%u2019re fishing a species to extinction for the sake of taste, but %u201COh my, whatever will we do when there are no more bluefin? How will we get our precious sushi?%u201D %u201C60 Minutes%u201D completely missed the point in this report.

[drivelphobe]

The Japanese don''t care about endangered species status if they eat it or use it. They kill whales like crazy, are reducing the population of blue fin tuna and continue to support the ivory poachers with the purchase of black market ivory.

I suggest McDonalds start offering a hot sandwich made of Crested Ibis or thin slices of Giant Salamander. Trinkets for the kids could be made of Macaque feathers and beaks as souvenirs. I hear fresh Ibis tartare is a favored dish amongst the redneck population. We could also start harvesting Giant Pandas if the Chinese don''t express some concern as well. Giant Panda barbecued ribs sound yummy.

Let''s see how the Japanese like the apples.