The Black Fish ('like Sea Shepherd but fish...) liberated over a thousand endangered bluefin tuna fish from a farm near the island of Ugljan, Croatia on Sunday (8th).
The activist divers evaded security as night fell to aid the fish to freedom. Until then their home had been an overcrowded death trap euphemistically known as a 'caged habitat'. The crew had been patrolling the area and had become aware of the slaughter of the endangered species (give it 10-15 years at the current rate and they'll be gone the same way as the dodo), prompting the water ninja antics.
The Black Fish, an international marine conservation organisation, have been doing the groundwork for weeks now to prepare to kick off a new campaign to bring to the public eye the sickening realities of the bluefin tuna trade. The species is but one of the many casualties of overfishing in the Med.
Bluefin tuna are some of the largest and fastest fish of the oceans. In recent decades industrial overfishing, not to mention the global appetite for sushi, have decreased their numbers to near extinction. ICCAT, an international organisation given the task of conserving the fish, have managed to do little to ensure their survival. In 2010 new measures legislated that only fish over 30kg could be caught, thereby allowing the fish one spawning cycle before premature death. Yet in a bizarre loophole ICCAT allowed countries carte blanche to catch bluefin tuna in the Adriatic Sea, whatever their size or age.
For more information on the Black Fish and upcoming actions keep checking the website, you can also help by making a donation or get actively involved.
Spread the word, before bluefin tuna only exist in museums and pretty pictures.