October 7, 2020 — Tuna is holding steady as a $40 billion-a-year business, but commercial fisheries worldwide are hauling in bigger catches of dwindling value, threatening the long-term survival of some species, according to a new report.
“Fisheries caught 500,000 more metric tons in 2018 than in 2012, but were paid $500 million less in dock value,” study co-author Grantly Galland, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries group, told AFP.
Unless governments that regulate the industry through regional management bodies adopt long-term strategies, everything from supermarket tuna to $100-a-portion sashimi could wind up in short supply, the report warned.
Crashing populations of skipjack, bigeye, yellowfin and bluefin would also jeopardise livelihoods and disrupt ecosystems in which the top-level predators play a critical role.