Here is a short video from NBC on the real-world problem of overfishing and how it has depleted at least 3 fisheries around the world of Atlantic salmon, bluefin tuna, and mackerel icefish.

The WWF last warned about bluefin tuna going extinct only 6 months ago – now, as European fishing fleets prepare to begin their two-month Mediterranean fishing season tomorrow, the WWF says bluefin tuna that spawn – those aged four years and older – will have disappeared by 2012 at current rates.

Demand from Japan has triggered an explosion in hunting over the past decade and they even use illegal spotter planes to track the tuna.

The WWF and other campaign groups say bluefin can only be saved by a complete halt to fishing in May and June as the fish rush through the Straits of Gibraltar to spawn in the Mediterranean.

Here’s a scene you don’t see everyday; watch the guy to the right as he clubs the tuna over the head to kill it:

UPDATE: 6/27/2010: From today’s NYT’s: Tuna’s End