Did You Catch 'Superfish: Bluefin Tuna'?

If you love tuna as much as we do, we hope you had a chance to check out Superfish: Bluefin Tuna, which aired on National Geographic Channel on Thursday, April 12. This one-hour film was created in the wake of the immense popularity of National Geographic’s 10-part reality series Wicked Tuna that features some prominent Gloucester fishermen who you may have seen once or twice right in our store.

Superfish: Bluefin Tuna was produced by the Tag A Giant Foundation, a California-based not-for-profit that conducts scientific research on marine conservation issues, and the movie debuts some of the first underwater footage ever taken of free-swimming Bluefin, making it a must-see for Bluefin lovers.

Why else should you track this film down? It highlights the fact that while Bluefin tuna are found in all the world’s major oceans, the conservation issues each sub-species faces are very different. Our own Atlantic Bluefin have luckily been well-studied and there are noted scientific authorities who have expertise in our local sub-species. They’ve concluded that Atlantic Bluefin is not endangered or threatened with endangerment.

“In the film, I mention that Bluefin are emblematic of a healthy open ocean, just like the sharks and billfish,” said filmmaker and marine biologist Rick Rosenthal in a recent National Geographic interview. “These top predators really tell us a lot about the current state of the ocean. We need them for everything to be complete. Going into Africa without seeing lions, or heading into the wilds of Alaska would not be the same experience if brown bears were absent. My definition of wilderness has these charismatic animals as key components in the ecosystem. The Bluefin is certainly on that list.”

Check your local listings to catch Superfish: Bluefin Tuna on your very own television!