Bank Says Tuna Catch Unlikely To Expand Significantly ff

The global catch of tuna has stagnated and is unlikely to increase significantly over the next few years, says the Glitnir Bank, from Iceland, in a detailed new report on the tuna fishery.

More than four million tons of tuna are caught annually and while its popularity is on the rise, this increased demand will not be met by aquaculture alone despite intensive new farming initiatives.

The Glitnir study is the latest in a series of reports on different aspects of fishing this year and is the first detailed new analysis on this important fishery. Tuna is the fourth largest fish product in the world in terms of international trade, with the Bluefin variety being the most valuable of all the different species.

The report says that most of the world’s tuna stocks are either being fully fished or are over exploited. It continues: “Tuna is generally speaking a relatively expensive and popular fish product, tuna being the fourth largest fisheries product in terms of international trade with about 7.6 per cent market share.”

”The word tuna generally refers to five subspecies - skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, albacore and bluefin. Skipjack and yellowfin were the largest species by volume and combined they accounted for about 84 per cent of total catch by volume. The bluefin, however,was the most valuable species in terms of price per kilo of catch, but it only accounted for about 1.3 per cent of total catch value.”

Glitnir’s researchers say that demand for canned tuna has shown a declining trend in recent years and household consumption has contracted somewhat, being estimated at 0.45 kilos per head in 2006 compared with 0.49 kilos in 2004.

Conversely, the popularity of fresh tuna has increased considerably, especially within European Union countries like Britain and also in the United States and Canada. Rising tuna prices, however, mean that demand for tuna had not increased much recently. For some unexplained reason consumption in Japan had shown a small decrease.

There was little doubt that the development of tuna farming was accelerating, especially in countries like Spain and Australia as demand for the fresh variety shows little sign of abating.

In 2004 (the latest year of which there are detailed figures), the farming of bluefin jumped, increasing by almost 80 per cent compared with the year before. Even so, farmed tuna accounts for only a fraction of the total volume in 2005, or 0.5 per cent.

Almost all tuna farming in the world today relies on the catch of small tuna fish, which is subsequently fattened through controlled aquaculture until it reaches market size. Before tuna farming can be considered truly sustainable, successful methods for farming of fingerlings and use of dry feed must be developed.

The Glitnir report concludes that while the farming of tuna, which first began in eastern Canada in the 1970s, was growing and would eventually lead to an improved supply situation, there was still a long way to go before it made a real impact on global markets. “The breeding technology faces a lot of challenges,” says the bank’s researchers.