World Scene: Environment

'Three years for bluefin tuna'

Overfishing will wipe out the breeding population of Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the ocean's largest and fastest predators, in three years unless catches are dramatically reduced, conservation group WWF said yesterday.

As European fishing fleets prepare to begin the two-month Mediterranean fishing season today, WWF said its analysis showed the bluefin tuna that spawn - those aged four years and older - will have disappeared by 2012 at current rates.