Bluefin tuna: a talisman for recovery, not a trophy on our plates

Published November 2025

Atlantic bluefin are back! Rising numbers of this magnificent tuna have been heralded by many as a conservation victory. Once common in our waters as far as Scarborough and Whitby, bluefin disappeared in the 1960s due to overfishing.  Now, thanks partly to international cooperation on fishing quotas, this gigantic fish, that can weigh hundreds of kilograms, can once again be seen off the coast of Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and Ireland.

Bluefin hold cultural significance across the world. It is emblematic of sushi and the sole focus of the Spanish tuna festival that has been held annually in the Mediterranean for thousands of years. Ancient Greek texts write about similar festivals where young boys would be stationed on top of the Acropolis in Athens as lookouts for the porpoising tuna making their way from the Black Sea. Cult status and world-wide demand have pushed prices to astonishing heights, with the record set in 2019 for a single 300kg blue fin reaching $1.3 million and is one of the reasons why the species was fished to almost global extinction in the 20^th century.

Bluefin are a pelagic, apex predator, hunting in packs across oceans. These giants are thought to live 30-40+ years. At the top of the food chain, they are seen as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, evidence of the presence of plentiful prey species needed to support them. In 2023, the UK government issued new licences for fishers to line-catch bluefin in our waters, both for sport and the food industry. As a result, British line-caught, or, “local” tuna, can once again be seen on menus in the trendiest restaurants in London.

However, the jury is still out on whether British bluefin are sustainable. We need to consider the considerable threats that this fish still faces. What appears as “local” on Cornish and London menus also appears on French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek and Turkish menus as “local”. This is a fish that traverses oceans and is targeted and hunted on every part of its migration. It’s also a hunter that relies on abundance of food, primarily, in our case, mackerel and herring – two species that are, in themselves, on the decline. Throw in melting icecaps and warming ocean currents and you add a whole new layer of extinction threat. Tuna need a healthy, thriving ecosystem with a well-established food chain in order to survive. The Atlantic and Mediterranean – let alone our UK coastal waters – are far from that.

At Knepp, we have seen through our re-introduction of storks how a species rising from the ashes can become talismanic of environmental recovery. Circling in our skies again, the stork has brought attention to other species that we are missing from Britain. Perhaps tuna can do the same. The interest from fishers, sport fishers, chefs, conservationists and local governments offer an almost unique opportunity to unite our efforts to restore and protect our oceans. Tuna should be our talisman, a species to rally around, to champion, to unite, to restore and protect our oceans. We need healthy sea as much as the tuna. But for now, keep tuna off our menus!