Who’s up for some barbecued endangered species?
This March down at The Star, until recently known as Star City Casino, it’s tuna month. Is this a new campaign from the high-rollers about conserving endangered species perhaps? Think again – at The Star, they’re serving endangered species.

Diver amongst Captive Bluefin Tuna © Greenpeace / Gavin Newman

Diver amongst Captive Bluefin Tuna. © Greenpeace / Gavin Newman

Years of overfishing means 95% of the southern bluefin tuna once in the ocean are now gone.

‘What creature from the growing menu of soon-to-be extinct species will The Star serve up for its next promotion?’ – is the obvious question.  Will it be giant panda cakes?  Black rhino rolls?

Serving up critically endangered species is not okay – however you slice it.

Overfishing of many species, especially the important predators like tuna, is a massive global problem.

Bluefin Tuna Being Traded in Japan © Greenpeace / Alex Hofford

Bluefin Tuna Being Traded in Japan. © Greenpeace / Alex Hofford

Here’s 6 reasons why Star City, or any restaurant for that matter, should take bluefin tuna off the menu.

  1. Southern bluefin tuna has been listed as “critically endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species since 1996 – we frown on trade in other critically endangered species like black rhino, selling southern bluefin tuna undermines the whole argument.
  2. Around 95% of the world’s southern bluefin are already gone – the population is estimated to be 3.5-7.7% or less of original spawning stock biomass.
  3. If we applied Australian rules to southern bluefin tuna, fishing it would be banned.   Under our commonwealth harvest strategy, any fish species that falls below 20% of its original population is immediately protected, fishing is stopped, and a recovery plan is put in place to bring it back.
  4. 98% of the bluefin caught in Australia are baby tuna, meaning they haven’t had a chance to breed yet.
  5. It takes up to ten kilos of wild-caught sardines to produce 1kg of ranched bluefin tuna.
  6. The management plan for southern bluefin only has a 70% probability of rebuilding stocks to 20% of their unfished size by 2035.

If you can’t stomach eating endangered species you can leave a message on The Star’s Facebook page here. 

Gambling with the contents of people’s bank accounts is their business – rolling the dice with a species’ extinction is not ok.