Aureliano Gentile 2008-10-29 2010-11-15 2295 Capture fisheries topics and activities 150 Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Département des pêches et de l’aquaculture de la FAO Departamento de Pesca y Acuicultura de la FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN) FI_WS_CP FAO Jacek Majkowski 2008-10-29 16917 Tuna fisheries and utilization This topic provides a general overview of tuna fisheries; see the most up-to-date information in the Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS): World Global Tuna Fisheries.

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Fisheries and farming

Historical trends

Tuna fisheries are among oldest in the world with Phoenician trap fisheries for Atlantic bluefin tuna operating around 2000 BC. However, until the 2nd part of XX century, fishing occurred mostly in coastal areas. Industrial fisheries started during the 1940’s and 1950’s as a result of increasing demand for canned tuna. Particularly after 1952, tuna fisheries expanded rapidly into oceanic areas initially in the Pacific and in the late 1950’s, also in the Atlantic, including the Indian Ocean in the 1980’s.

]]> Present statusAt present, on the industrial scale, tuna and tuna-like species are mainly caught with purse seines, longlines and pole and lines. Industrial tuna fisheries are extremely dynamic and especially distant-water fishing fleets can react very quickly to changes in stock sizes or market conditions. Small-scale longlining for the sashimi market is increasingly being used by Taiwan Province of China and mainland China as well as other developing countries. This and the intensification of artisanal fisheries contribute to a general trend of rapidly increasing importance of coastal developing countries (including island countries of the Indian and Pacific Oceans) in tuna fishing.
The most up-to-date review of the state of global Tuna and Tuna like resources is available in the Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS): Tuna and tuna-like species - Global.

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Farming

Tuna farming started in the 1990s. Bluefin tunas are the main species used in farming. The countries involved include Australia, Japan, Mexico and several Mediterranean countries (particularly Croatia, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Spain and Turkey). Tuna farming has many implications including a possibility of getting higher prices for small fish that otherwise would not be suitable for sashimi, encouraging their higher catches, if they are not properly controlled. At the same time, on the sashimi market, the fattened tuna compete with lower quality tuna from longliners. Also, tuna farming makes the reliable estimation of tuna catches much more difficult.

 

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Catches

Magnitude and species contributions

Catches of tuna and tuna-like species tend to increase continuously with some fluctuations and increases generally becoming smaller in recent years, reaching about 9.5 million tonnes per year. The global production of the principal market tunas also increased relatively steadily.

Catches of tropical tunas like skipjack and yellowfin, but also bigeye contribute most to the total catch of the principal market tuna species. The catches of temperate species of albacore and bluefins are smaller.

Countries

Recently, the principal market tuna catches of Japan and Taiwan Province of China become largest among all countries. Other important tuna fishing countries include Indonesia, the Philippines, Spain, Republic of Korea, Papua New Guinea, France, Ecuador, Mexico, Maldives, Islamic Republic of Iran, United States of America, Seychelles, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Colombia, China, Vanuatu, Panama and Ghana.

]]> Global Tuna Catches by Stock - more about Captures nominales mondiales de thonidés - plus d'information Capturas nominales mundiales del atún - más información Мировой объем добычи тунца по видам – подробнее المصيد الاسمي العالمي من أسماك التونة - المزيد 全球金枪鱼标称捕捞量 - 更多信息 data collection http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FIRetrieveAction.do?dom=collection&xml=tuna-nomcatch.xml 373 Atlas of Tuna and Billfish Catches - more about Atlas des captures de thons et marlins - plus d'information Atlas de las capturas de atún y marlin - más información Атлас добычи тунца и меч-рыбы – подробнее أطلس المصيد من أسماك التونة وسمك الخرمان – المزيد 金枪鱼和剑旗鱼类捕捞量图集 - 更多信息 data collection http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FIRetrieveAction.do?dom=collection&xml=tunabillfishatlas.xml 372 Global Capture Production - more about Captures mondiales - plus d'information Producción mundial de captura - más información Глобальный объем вылова – подробнее الإنتاج العالمي من المصايد الطبيعية - المزيد 全球水产养殖生产 - 更多信息 ??????? ????? ????????? ??????????? – ????????? data collection http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FIRetrieveAction.do?dom=collection&xml=global-capture-production.xml 364

Fisheries management

Cooperation

On regional scales, countries fishing tuna and tuna-like species cooperate on fisheries research, conservation and fisheries management within international frameworks of particularly tuna fisheries bodies (see below). Cooperation must also extend beyond the scale of single oceans because:
• industrial tuna fleets are highly mobile,
• the principal market tunas are intensively traded on the global scale and
• many tuna research, conservation and management problems are similar in all oceans.

An important example of such collaboration is the formulation, in 1995, of the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (referred to as the UN Fish Stocks Agreement). The Agreement and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (formulated within the framework of FAO) pose new requirements for conservation, conservation and fisheries management, technology and research for tuna and tuna-like species.

Issues

The prime conservation problem for tunas is the depletion of some stocks of bluefin. Several years ago, a consideration was given to listing bluefin on one of the Appendixes of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which would have major implications for the trade of the species. Some other tuna stock also merit close attention from the conservation view point. However, generally with the exception of bluefin, serious over-fishing has been largely avoided for various reasons including the high productivity of tuna species and the economics of tuna fisheries (e.g., the relatively recent global over-production of some tunas for canning led to drastic reduction of their prices below those economical for fishing). With the fully and over-exploited status of most stocks of tuna, more concerns related to tuna conservation and fisheries management are likely to arise in the future.

With the present stock status, the catches of principal market tunas should not increase on the global scale in a near future unless future technological developments will allow increasing catches of skipjack (moderately exploited in some oceans) without increasing those of bigeye and yellowfin (fully or over-exploited) with which skipjack is frequently caught together. Generally, the multi-species nature of tuna fisheries complicates their management.

Improvements in the yield of tuna might be achieved in some cases by protecting small or immature fish and targeting older age groups. Problems occur with compliance to some size regulations. The intensification of fishing around floating aggregating devises (FADs) also raises concerns because such fishing tends to result in large catches of small fish.

The magnitude of incidentally caught species (by-catch), their discards, catches of small individuals of target species and the status of stocks of the by-catch species have been another area of concern. Generally, by-catches of tuna fisheries are relatively small. However, they include species of dolphins, turtles, seabirds and sharks, which receive high attention from the international community.

Fisheries management measures

There are various management measures imposed for tuna fisheries on regional scales, particularly in areas where tuna fishery bodies have been operational for a long time. This is the case in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea (ICCAT) and the eastern tropical Pacific (IATTC). They include size limits, fishing effort restrains, catch limits, seasonal and geographical closures and restrictions on the use of FADs.

 

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Utilisation and trade

International trade in tuna products plays an important part in world trade, accounting for about 9% of export value. Main importing countries of tuna products are Japan, USA and several EU countries. The trade includes sashimi tuna, canning raw material and canned tuna. In addition, specialty products are finding more and more a slot in international fish trade.

Thailand and Japan are the world’s major fresh and frozen tuna importers, but while Thailand is expanding its imports, the importance of fresh and frozen tuna imports is declining. The USA continues to be the main canned tuna importing country. European countries are also among the top canned tuna importers, with a strong increases in imports experienced by all main importing countries.

For further information, see:
• TUNA Commodity updates at http://www.globefish.org/index.php?id=215
• Tuna market reports http://www.globefish.org/dynamisk.php4?id=4559
• Global World Tuna Markets at http://www.globefish.org/dynamisk.php4?id=3005
• INFOFISH Tuna Trade Conference Proceedings at http://www.infofish.org/tunavideo.html

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Other involved institutions

In addition to the above-mentioned information, websites of the tuna fishery bodies and other international and national institutions have a lot of information on the species, particularly on regional scales. Tuna-org is as an informal framework for sharing information from the tuna bodies listed below. ]]> Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) Commission pour la conservation du thon rouge du sud (CCSBT) Comisión para la Conservación del Atún de Aleta Azul del Sur (CCSBT) Комиссия по сохранению южного синего тунца (CCSBT) الهيئة الدولية لصيانة التونة زرقاء الزعانف (CCSBT) 南部蓝鳍金枪鱼保护委员会 (CCSBT) regional fishery Bodies http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/photo/firi/219792.JPG http://www.ccsbt.org http://www.ccsbt.org 419 Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Commission interaméricaine du thon tropical (CITT) Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) Межамериканская комиссия по тропическому тунцу (IATTC) هيئة التونة الاستوائية فى البلدان الأمريكية (IATTC) 美洲间热带金枪鱼委员会 (IATTC) regional fishery Bodies http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/photo/firi/220285.JPG http://www.iattc.org/ http://www.iattc.org/ http://www.iattc.org/HomeSPN.htm 916 International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) Commission internationale pour la conservation des thonidés de l'Atlantique (CICTA) Comisión Internacional para la Conservación del Atún del Atlántico (CICAA) Международная комиссия по сохранению атлантического тунца (ИККАТ) الهيئة الدولية لصيانة التونة فى الأطلسى (ICCAT) 国际保护大西洋金枪鱼委员会 (ICCAT) regional fishery Bodies http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/photo/firi/220310.JPG http://www.iccat.int/en/ http://www.iccat.int/fr/ http://www.iccat.int/es/ 941 Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Commission des thons de l'océan Indien (CTOI) Comisión del Atún para el Océano Indico (IOTC) Комиссия по индоокеанскому тунцу هيئة مصايد أسماك التونة فى المحيط الهندى (IOTC) 印度洋金枪鱼委员会 (IOTC) regional fishery Bodies http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/photo/firi/220203.JPG http://www.iotc.org http://www.iotc.org/French/ 833 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Commission des pêches pour le Pacifique central et occidental (WCPFC) Comisión de Pesca para el Pacífico Occidental y Central (WCPFC) Комиссия по рыболовству в западной и центральной частях Тихого океана (WCPFC) لجنة مصايد الأسماك في غرب ووسط المحيط الهادئ (WCPFC) 中西太平洋渔业委员会 (WCPFC) institutions http://www.wcpfc.int/ 1807 Oceanic Fisheries Programme (OFP) Le programme Pêche Hauturière (OFP) website http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/ Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) regional fishery Bodies http://www.ffa.int/ 1568 Atuna website http://www.atuna.com/
]]> 16001 Tuna and tuna-like species - Global 459 Global Tuna fisheries World oceans 16916 FAO activities on tuna Activités de la FAO portant sur le thon Actividades de la FAO sobre el atún International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU) Plan d'action international visant à prévenir, à contrecarrer et à éliminer la pêche illicite, non déclarée et non réglementée (PAI) Plan de acción internacional para prevenir, desalentar y eliminar la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada (PAI-Pesca) Международный план действий по предупреждению, сдерживанию и ликвидации незаконного, несообщаемого и нерегулируемого рыбного промысла خطة العمل الدولية لمنع الصيد غير القانوني دون إبلاغ ودون تنظيم وردعه والقضاء عليه (IPOA-IUU) 打击非法、不报告和不管制捕鱼的国际行动计划（IPOA-IUU） programme http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FIRetrieveAction.do?dom=org&xml=ipoa_IUU.xml 385 16212 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) La situation mondiale des pêches et de l'aquaculture (SOFIA) El estado mundial de la pesca y la acuicultura (SOFIA) Recent developments in the tuna industry: stocks, fisheries, management, processing, trade and markets. Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1705e/i1705e00.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1705e/i1705e.pdf I1705/E 9789251066201 2070-7010 International management of tuna fisheries - Arrangements, challenges and a way forward Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1453e/i1453e00.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1453e/i1453e00.pdf I1453/E 9789251065112 2070-7010 Marine fishery resources of the Pacific Islands Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1452e/i1452e00.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1452e/i1452e00.pdf I1452/E 9789251065129 The Tuna Industry as a Global Business - Worldwide Tuna Conference, 14-15 September 2009, Vigo, Spain (PPT presentation) Other ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/FI/Reserved/FI_Seminars/FII/Sept_09_Spain/Vigo_Tuna/ Review of the state of world marine fishery resources Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/y5852e/y5852e00.htm ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5852e/y5852e00.pdf ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5852e/y5852e.zip Y5852/E 9251052670 0429-9345 Historical trends of tuna catches in the world Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5428e/y5428e00.htm ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5428e/y5428e00.pdf ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/007/y5428e/y5428e.zip Y5428/E 9251051364 0429-9345 Structure and Process of the 1993-1995 United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks Book http://www.fao.org/docrep/V9929E/V9929E00.htm V9929/E 0429-9329 12251 Tuna resources Les ressources en thonidés Recursos atuneros Fishing Techniques - fact sheets Technique de pêche - fiches d'information Técnica de la pesca - hojas informativas Методы рыбного промысла. Информационные бюллетени صحائف وقائع تقنيات صيد الأسماك 捕捞技术情况说明 search interface http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FISearch.do?dom=fishtech 415 Fishing Vessel - fact sheets Type de navires de pêche - fiches d'informations Tipo del buques de pesca - hojas Informativas Рыболовные суда. Информационные бюллетени صحائف وقائع سفن الصيد 捕捞船只情况说明 search interface http://www.fao.org/fi/website/FISearch.do?dom=vesseltype 417 Global Tuna Catches by Stock (online query) Captures nominales mondiales de thonidés (interrogation en ligne) Capturas nominales mundiales del atún buscar (búsqueda en línea) Мировой вылов тунца по запасам (онлайновый запрос) المصيد الاسمي العالمي من أسماك التونة (استفسار على الانترنت) 全球金枪鱼标称渔获量（在线查询） search interface http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/tuna-catches/query 424 Atlas of Tuna and Billfish Catches (online query) Atlas des captures de thons et marlins (interrogation en ligne) Atlas de las capturas de atún y marlin (búsqueda en línea) Атлас уловов тунца и меч-рыбы (онлайновый запрос) أطلس المصيد من أسماك التونة وسمك الخرمان (استفسار على الانترنت) 金枪鱼和剑旗鱼捕捞量图集 (在线查询) search interface http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/tuna-atlas/query 435 Global Production Statistics (online query) Statistiques sur la production mondiale (interrogation en ligne) Estadísticas de la producción mundial (búsqueda en línea) Статистика производства в мире (онлайн-запрос) إحصاءات الإنتاج العالمي (استفسار على الانترنت) 全球产量统计数据 (在线查询) search interface http://www.fao.org/figis/servlet/TabLandArea?tb_ds=Production&tb_mode=TABLE&tb_act=SELECT&tb_grp=COUNTRY 432 13701 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement Accord des Nations Unies sur le stocks de poissons Acuerdo de las Naciones Unidas sobre las poblaciones de peces High Seas Vessels Authorization Record (HSVAR) (online query) Registre des autorisations des navires en haute mer (interrogation en ligne) Base de datos sobre autorización de buques de alta mar (búsqueda en línea) Реестр судов, которым разрешено вести рыбный промысел в открытом море (ХСВАР) (онлайновый запрос) سجل الاتفاقات الخاصة بسفن الصيد في أعالي البحار (استفسار على الانترنت) 公海船舶核准记录（HSVAR）（在线查询） search interface http://www.fao.org/fi/hsvar/index.jsp 355 16082 Biological characteristics of tuna Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS) Système de suivi des ressources halieutiques (FIRMS) Sistema de supervisión de los recursos pesqueros (FIRMS) Система мониторинга рыбопромысловых ресурсов (FIRMS) نظام رصد الموارد السمكية (FIRMS) 渔业资源监测系统 (FIRMS) http://firms.fao.org GLOBEFISH - Computerized System of Fish Marketing Information GLOBEFISH - Système informatisé de données sur la commercialisation du poisson GLOBEFISH - Sistema computerizado de información comercial pesquera ГЛОБФИШ – компьютеризованная система маркетинговой информации о рыбе النظام الحاسوبى لمعلومات تسويق الأسماك (جلوبفيش) 计算机化鱼品销售信息系统（Globefish） website http://www.globefish.org Regional Fishery Bodies (RFB) Organismes régionaux des pêches (ORP) Organos regionales de la Pesca Региональные органы рыбного хозяйства الأجهزة الإقليمية لمصايد الأسماك 区域渔业机构 (RFB) http://www.fao.org/fishery/rfb/search Code of Conduct For Responsible Fisheries Code de conduite pour une pêche responsable Código de la conducta para las industrias pesqueras responsables Кодекс ведения ответственного рыболовства مدونة السلوك بشأن الصيد الرشيد 负责任渔业行为守则 http://www.fao.org/fishery/ccrf/ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Convention sur le commerce international des espèces de faune et de flore sauvages menacées d'extinction (CITES) Convención sobre el Comercio Internacional de Especies Amenazadas de Fauna y Flora Silvestres (CITES) اتفاقية بشأن التجارة الدولية فى الأنواع المهددة بالانقراض من مجموعات الحيوان والنبات البرية webpage http://www.cites.org/ 75