Current status of ocean tuna in the world

Presently main tuna species fished and traded in the world include skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), Southern bluefin (Thunnus maccoyii), Northern bluefin (Thunnus thynnus), Pacific bluefin (Thunnus orientalis), bigeye (Thunnus obesus), longtail (Thunnus tonggol), and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), etc. Except skipjack, other tuna species are in large size, especially Pacific bluefin tuna which can reach up to 3 m (10 ft) in length and about 550 kg

(1,200 lb) in weight. The world tuna production totaled about 5 million MT in 2006. Tuna flesh is nutritive and contains a lot of microelements necessary to human health (table 1).

Nowadays tuna is in high demand in global market and is the second most heavily traded product in the world after shrimp and prawn. In 2006 tuna volume traded in the world was 3 million MT, valued US$7.41 billion.

Japan, the U.S. and EU are three largest markets of tuna. Japan is the largest consumer of fresh/frozen tuna, accounting for 20-25 percent of world production of this kind of product, while the U.S. is the biggest consumer of canned tuna, accounting for 25-28 percent of the world.

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