Breeding Breakthrough Yields Sustainable Bluefin Tuna - Or Does It?

Bloomberg reported this week that Australia-based Clean Seas Tuna Ltd. has successfully bred sustainable bluefin tuna. Not so fast, baby!

For those who may not know, the bluefin tuna has been fished to near extinction to satisfy the cravings of sushi lovers worldwide.

Casson Trenor, fisheries conservation activist and a San Francisco sushi restaurateur, says consumers need to stop eating bluefin now if the fish is to survive.

“Chefs need to take responsibility for this," says Trenor, author of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time. "We need to stop exploiting the hell out of this fish and give them a break.”

So, mightn't farm-raised bluefin be the answer?

I see at least two problems with Clean Seas' solution. The most obvious one to my layman's eyes is the need to feed these fish with (literally) boatloads of fishmeal taken from herring, sardines, etc., that then won't be around to feed the remaining wild tuna and other carniverous pelagic fish (and whose capture involves tremendous bycatch of by the trawlers that catch them). From this perspective, the farmed tuna are not a sustainable solution - they simply are a way to convert plentiful, healthier, and potentially sustainable fish stocks into bluefin sushi for the affluent.

The second problem speaks to consumer psychology: "Oh, they're FARMING bluefin now - problem solved! The bluefin are being protected, let's move on." The misperception of the "bluefin problem" being "solved" would simply mask the wider problem of global overfishing as described in the book and film, The End of the Line.

I'm sure there are other problems with this "solution," but what do I know? You tell me - what's your take on this or any other sustainable seafood solutions?