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Thunnus albacares, or yellow finned tuna is what you consume when you eat a can of Starkist tuna like this jar. In the small corner sits a seal with a cute dolphin and the words “Dolphin Safe”. Dr. Pabst, of the UNCW biology team, lectured about the meaning of this label and the effects that it had on both the economy and ecological community in which tuna thrives. The “Dolphin Safe” label signifies that the tuna in the can was caught while not setting on dolphins. Dolphin and sexually mature yellow finned tuna are often found in association with one another; this relationship is hypothesized to be as a way to decrease predation of both species. USA fishermen in the past targeted dolphin pods, knowing it was likely that sexually mature yellow finned tuna would be found in the deeper water underneath. During this process, many dolphins died which was a direct violation of the US’s Marine Mammal Protection Act. As a result, other modes of catching tuna developed such as log and school setting. With each of these, there main tuna catch is sexually immature yellow finned tuna along with many other by-catch organisms. The big picture would be that for those that eat canned tuna, you are eating sexually immature Thunnus albacares. Because the target fish are sexually immature yellow finned tuna in log and school setting methods, the ecosystem is suffering. When a population undergoes a change in which sexually immature members are targeted, it hurts the growth rate of that population. This is because the species’ sexually mature individuals are taken out of the population, it is up to the mature individuals to reproduce. There are less organisms to reproduce, therefore, population growth will be hindered. As we are learning about community dynamics, we can keep in mind that because the yellow finned tuna interacts with organisms of different species meaning that the decrease in its population may affect other populations as well. #IMAGE3 #UNCWteal
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