Unit 4 Video: Saving Bluefin Tuna

Narrator: Japanese scientist Shukei Masuma is on a mission. He is trying to save the

bluefin tuna from becoming extinct. Their numbers have declined
significantly over the last decade, largely due to overfishing.

Masuma’s solution? To breed them in captivity. He feeds the tuna himself.

Here, he visits the huge pools where adults are separated from the young.
Says Masuma: “I’m realizing more and more how difficult it is to uncover
knowledge about the bluefin. At this point, I’m relying on all my strength
and energy.”

When evening comes, he waits at the edge of the pool. He hopes to see the
beginning of bluefin life. Once the big fish have laid their eggs, Masuma
slowly puts the eggs into special tanks. From this stage on, he will take care
of them. His goal is to keep them alive until they are old enough to be
returned to the sea. He hopes his tuna will grow large enough to breed in
the wild.

It’s a difficult job. Many hatchlings, or baby fish, do not survive. But after
years of hard work, Masuma has found a stable temperature and the right
food for his hatchlings. Now he is able to breed them in large numbers. He
shows ocean scientist Sylvia Earle how life begins for these giant fish.

Sylvia Earle: Already you see the eyes. Is that what these are—the eyes beginning to
form?

Shukei Masuma: Eyes, they have formed … and heart is beating, of course.

Earle: Masuma, you were the first to actually pull off this great miracle.

Masuma: Thank you very much.

Narrator: Someday, Masuma will send these hatchlings back into the ocean. There,
they will hopefully have a positive effect on the population. But first they
have to avoid getting caught.

Scientists estimate that the bluefin tuna population in the Atlantic Ocean is
now only one-fifth of its population in the 1970s. And their numbers have
dramatically decreased in the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The future for the species does not look good. Unless we greatly reduce the
number of fish we catch each year, these giants of the sea will eventually die
out.