World Tuna Day

Since the onset of large-scale commercial exploitation in the 1950s, global tuna catches have steadily risen, reaching 1 million tonnes in the mid-1960s, 2 million tonnes in the mid-1980s, 3 million tonnes in 1990, 4 million tonnes in the late 1990s, 5 million tonnes in 2014, and finally topping out at 5.4 million tonnes in 2019. The global tuna catch has been stable at around 5 million tonnes since then. In 2023, the latest available data, the global tuna catch was approximately 5.2 million tonnes. The majority of tuna catches are attributed to skipjack tuna (57 percent), followed by yellowfin tuna (31 percent), bigeye tuna (7 percent), albacore tuna (4 percent), and three species of bluefin tuna (1 percent). In terms of fishing methods, purse seining accounts for 66 percent of global tuna catches, while longlines (9 percent), pole-and-line (7 percent), gillnets (4 percent) and other miscellaneous gea...

  Globally, the seven major commercial oceanic tuna species are assessed and managed as 23 distinct stocks by the five tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs): CCSBT, IATTC, ICCAT, IOTC and WCPFC. These stocks include six albacore, four bigeye, four bluefin, five skipjack, and four yellowfin tuna stocks. The global tuna catch has remained stable at around 5 million tonnes in recent years. In 2023, the total catch was approximately 5.2 million tonnes, a figure similar to the previous year. Skipjack tuna accounted for the largest share (57 percent), followed by yellowfin tuna (31 percent), bigeye tuna (7 percent), albacore tuna (4 percent), and the three bluefin tuna species collectively contributing just 1 percent of the total catch. From a stock perspective, based on the most recent stock status adopted by tuna RFMOs, 16 out of the 23 assessed tuna stocks are not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring. Additionally, five sto...

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) role is to promote cooperation among the Contracting Parties (Members) and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties of the IOTC with a view to ensuring, through appropriate management, the conservation and optimum utilisation of stocks covered by the organisation’s establishing Agreement and encouraging sustainable development of fisheries based on such stocks.  The Commission has four key functions and responsibilities which enable it to achieve its objectives. They are drawn from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and are: to keep under review the conditions and trends of the stocks and to gather, analyse and disseminate scientific information, catch and effort statistics and other data relevant to the conservation and management of the stocks and to fisheries based on the stocks; to encourage, recommend, and coordinate research and development activities in respect of the stocks and fisheries covered by the IOTC...

Tuna and tuna-like species are very important economically and a significant source of food. They include approximately forty species occurring in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and in the Mediterranean Sea . Their global production has tended to increase continuously from less than 0.6 million tonnes in 1950 to above 6 million tonnes today. The so-called principal market tuna species are the most important among the tuna and tuna-like species from the catch weight and economical view points. They are landed in numerous locations around the world, traded on the nearly global scale and also processed and consumed in many locations worldwide. In 2010, their catch was approximately four million tonnes, which represents about 66 % of the total catch of all tuna and tuna-like species . Most catches of the principal market tuna species are taken from the Pacific (70.5% of the total catch of principal market tuna species in 2008), with the Indian contributing much more (19.5% in 2...