Humans Have Been Fishing Tuna for 44,000 Years
Hooked on Tuna
Drawing on 18 researchers and evidence from bones, rock art, and historical records, two Smithsonian scientists trace tuna fishing back 44,000 years to East Timor. Ancient Mediterranean fisheries traded bluefin on a large scale, while Northwest Coast Indigenous fishers harpooned giant tuna by canoe firelight. Yet even the largest ancient harvests removed only thousands of tons over millennia—nothing like today's millions of tons a year.
With spotters overlooking the fjords and communicating from land, fishers set fires in canoes to lure tuna close enough to harpoon.
- derektank
I was shocked as a kid seeing tuna in an aquarium up close and realizing how big they were. The aquarium kept them in the same tank as the sharks and honestly, I was more intimidated by them than the sharks.
- cubefox
It's strange that we eat predator animals. Tunas are predators, in contrast cows, pigs or chickens.
- war-is-peace
hungry now