The tuna sector contributes more than USD 42 billion (EUR 36.3 million) to the global economy annually, according to a new study released by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
“Netting Billions: A Global Valuation of Tuna” finds that fishermen landed almost 5 million metric tons (MT) of the seven most commercially valuable tuna species in 2014 and that this total catch had an estimated value of USD 9.8 billion (EUR 8.5 billion), which led to an end value paid for by consumers of USD 42.2 billion (EUR 36.4 billion). Two years previously, the total volume of tuna landed amounted to 4.6 million MT with a dock value of USD 12.2 billion (EUR 10.5 billion) and a final end value of USD 41.6 billion (EUR 35.9 billion).
The Pacific Ocean is home to the world’s largest tuna fishing grounds and therefore the largest contributor to total global sales values. According to Pew’s analysis, the end value of Pacific tuna when including the full canned tuna product price surpassed USD 22.7 billion (EUR 19.6 billion) in 2014.
In terms of individual tuna species, skipjack generates the highest estimated amount of revenue because of the volume caught worldwide each year. In 2014, the total skipjack catch reached close to 2.9 million MT with a dock value of almost USD 3.4 billion (EUR 2.9 billion) and an end value of USD 17.7 billion (EUR 15.3 billion).
By comparison, the three bluefin species – Atlantic, Pacific and Southern – represent a very small proportion of the overall tuna catch, but they are by far the most valuable. In 2012, the end value of both Atlantic and Pacific bluefin approached USD 1 billion (EUR 863.4 million) for each species on catches of only about 12,000 MT and 15,000 MT, respectively. In the same year, the Southern bluefin catch totaled 10,000 MT with an end value of USD 490 million (EUR 423.1 million).
With about 40,000 MT of all bluefin species caught per year—less than 1 percent of total tuna landings by weight—these fish generate between USD 610 million (EUR 526.8 million) and $660 million (EUR 570 million) for fishermen and USD 2 billion (EUR 1.7 billion) to USD 2.5 billion (EUR 2.2 billion) in the global marketplace, said Pew's report.
Overall, tuna canneries processed 3.5 million MT of tuna in 2012, which translated to around 1.4 million MT of canned and other shelf-stable products. The total value, including the cost of the cans and their contents, was almost USD 26 billion (EUR 22.5 billion). The catch produced another 1.4 million MT of byproducts, used primarily in fishmeal and pet foods and were estimated to be worth another USD 260 million (EUR 224.6 million).
