World tuna catching facts

Skipjack tuna accounts for about 50 percent of the total world tuna catch. In 2000, nearly 1,890 tons of skipjack were caught. Most of the catch was used for canning. In the Pacific Ocean, skipjack is the dominant species in the catch in terms of weight. The Pacific-wide catch increased from slightly more than 200,000 tons in 1970 to highs of about 1.4 million tons in 1998,1999 and 2000. About 1.2 million tons of the 1.4 million tons was taken from the Pacific Ocean.

Yellowfin is commercially the second most important species of tuna, accounting for about 977,000 tons or 28 percent of the total world tuna catch in 2000. Yellowfin is the premier species for canning, but more and more of the catch is being sold in fresh fish markets. The majority of the approximately 750,000 tons of yellowfin taken annually in the Pacific is caught by purse-seine vessels, which fish in much of the Western Pacific.

Table 5 Total tuna catching by species between 1995 and 2000, unit= 1,000 tons