Ben DiPietro
November 12. 2008
Being popular is great, but being loved comes with its own set of problems.
Just ask the tuna industry.
Tuna never has been more popular than it is today, with more people eating it
in its various forms than ever before. That burgeoning demand, not just from
developed nations that continue to want the fish, but from developing
countries with growing middle classes who have a pent-up demand for a better
standard of living, is creating crisis conditions for some tuna species.
Overfishing from some licensed fleets, and illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing are driving some species to the brink of
extinction and causing others to move toward that status, as are
environmental issues.
While the news isn’t all bad, there are enough danger signs to point to a
need for action to ensure the long-term sustainability of the resource. This
means, at least in the near future, “cheap tuna” won’t exist, as some key
tuna stocks are declining and continually becoming more expensive to catch
and deliver to market.
Demand shows no signs of slowing, perhaps with the exception of the U.S.
market for canned tuna and the Japanese market for sashimi. Raw material
prices are at record levels and show no signs of abating. And China has yet
to develop a serious appetite for tuna. Imagine what happens when the
billion-plus Chinese start demanding tuna.
Read more about this and much more in IntraFish Media's latest report on the
Tuna: An industry in Transition.
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