4B+Bluefin+Tuna

​​The Endangered Bluefin Tuna in the North Atlantic Ocean.

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Abiotic Factors

There are several zones in the ocean those determined by depth, and those determined by sea life. The zones determined by depth are the sunlit or epipelagic zone which goes from the surface down to 200 meters (650 feet). Next comes the mesopeleatic or twilight zone which stretches down another 800m (2650’). The next zone is the bathypelagic zone from 1000m-4000m (3300’-13000’). After that is the abyssopelagic zone from 4000m-6000m (13000-20000ft) then finely is the hadal zone which goes from there to the ocean floor, Each zone getting darker. The blue fin tuna lives in the epipelagic zone. Some other abiotic factor are currents which bring warm water or sometimes cold to areas in the ocean. This brings me to my next factor, temperatures the blue fin tuna and other fish can only survive in certain temperatures (hint hint whoever controls the thermostat). Another is oil spills which harm many fish. Tides are also a very important factor because the ocean depth is constantly varying from place to place. Garbage is another factor whether it’s dumped intentionally or is blown by the wind from the ground or trash cans, trash kills many marine animals although not usually tuna.

Biotic Factors
 * The Bluefin tuna- The Bluefin tuna is a carnivore. It is a really big Fish
 * Zooplankton-Zooplankton eat other plankton, and get eaten by larger animals.
 * Blueback Herring- Feed on incest’s, fish eggs, and other small fish.
 * Anchovies- Feed on zooplankton and plants
 * Leopard Shark- It eats crabs, clams, shrimp, and fish. Is over fished.
 * Crustaceans- Crabs, Barnacles….Eats worms and plants.
 * Halibut-They eat crabs and other crustaceans, octopi, salmon, and a number of other things. They get fished.
 * Swordfish- They eat tuna and other fish, like mackerel and barracuda, and occasionally squid.
 * Diatoms- are the main source of phytoplankton and are usually unicellular
 * Bull Kelp- Bull Kelp is a perfect environment for otters and other fish
 * Red Algae- One of the oldest groups of algae. They also take in part of making coral reefs.

Threats

-One of the biggest threats to blue fin tuna is over fishing. --Blue fin tuna can sell for thousands of us dollars. -Trash and waste products --Fish, not necessary tuna can eat this and become sick and/or die. ---the fish that die might be food for the blue fin tuna. ---For every one of that kind of fish that dies there’s that much less food for the blue fin. -Climate change is also a problem. --fish must migrate to find water of the appropriate temperature. --Climate change also causes indirect problems to the blue fin tuna. ---These problems include coral bleaching, many fish live in coral reefs, the blue fin eats, or directly eaten by the blue fin tuna. -natural predators --include but not limited to ---sword fish ---great white shark ---leopard shark

Importance To the Ecosystem

The blue fin tuna is very important to humans and the ecosystem. If a disease came and wiped out all of the blue fin tuna then the smaller animals, like anchovies, would over populate because there are less animals eating them. Then the bigger animals, like sharks, would start to die off because they wouldn’t be able to eat the blue fin tuna. Then the bigger animals would start eating the smaller animals and the population switch. This would happen until finally they would equal out. Human would also be affected if all the blue fin tuna died. First the price for the tuna would increase greatly because the only blue fin tuna left would be frozen. Next a lot would f fishermen would lose their jobs. Also the population of all sea creatures would increase because some fishermen just fish for blue fin tuna, but end up catching lots of other fish. These people would stop fishing because the tuna was gone and the other fish would become more populated or become less populated slower.

Conservation Plan

The Blue fin tuna are in trouble of extinction and in this conservation plan we are going to try to stop it. There are a few ways to save the tuna, but most of them are either last resort or irrational. First we should start by putting a fine on polluting the oceans. This will help lots of animals including the blue fin tuna. Another way to help is mass breading them and releasing them in the wild before dependent on humans. That will help with getting the population higher so they are in less chance of extinction until we can come up with a permanent answer. Third we can make it illegal to fish blue fin tuna and have a huge fine if they do. Also, one last way to try to make sure blue fin tuna don’t go extinct is to limit an amount of blue fin tuna a company or person can fish a year and if they go over that limit they will get fined by the cost of two tuna for each extra tuna. That will help because the people that want to make money won’t go over the limit or else they will be losing money. Then if all else fails we can make it illegal to fish at all in the oceans.

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