Atlantic bluefin tuna used to be caught only relatively rarely, mainly by sports fishermen in North America. But this all changed in the 1950s when consumers of sushi, particularly in Japan, developed more of a taste for the species.
Historically, Atlantic bluefins have either been caught directly from the ocean or caught while young and fattened in large offshore cages called “ranches”. Both wild fishing and ranching pose sustainability issues since they involve taking fish from the wild. The surge in demand resulted in excessive fishing pressure. By 2006, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas warned that the Atlantic bluefin stock was close to collapse.
