billion pounds in 1957 (fig. 7) 



WORLD TUNA CATCH BY REGIONS 



(BONITO INCLUDED) 



IN MILLIONS 



Of POUNDS 



1.000 



900 



800 



700 



600 - 



500 



400 



KEY 



S NOHIH AMERICA 

 2] EUHOPf 

 U SOUTH AMEBIC* 

 [SKI AFRICA 



I-, 



~~\ 



1941 



1953 



19S7 



Figure 7. — World tuna catch by regions (1948, 



*53, *57), bonito included. 



Note: The catches listed for each region 



are the catches made by the countries 



in the region regardless of where the 



fish were caught or landed. 



Note: Adjustments made in F.A.O. French 

 and Spanish catch data because 

 breakdown was not complete. 



Catch by Region 



With the exception of North America, 

 all regions of the world have shown in- 

 creased tuna catches. During this decade 

 the North American catch, consisting almost 

 entirely of tuna landed by U. S. fishermen, 

 declined from about 3h2 million pounds to 

 about 310 million pounds. On the other 

 hand, the Asiatic catch — dominated by Japan 

 —has increased from about 11j5 million 

 pounds to about °IiO million pounds. The 

 European catch, which includes that of 

 Turkey and the European U.S.S.R., has tri- 

 pled to about 300 million pounds; no single 

 country has dominated the tuna fisheries of 

 Europe. In South America tuna landings be- 

 tween 1°U8 and 1957 more than doubled to 

 about 165 million pounds j Peru is. the lead- 

 ing producer of tuna in this region. 



Bonito is included with the tuna 

 catch because it is interchangeable with 

 tuna in certain markets, chiefly in Europe. 



To examine the trends statistical 

 data will be compared for the years 19U8, 

 1953, and 1957 • In some instances, data 

 for additional years are also considered. 



Catch by Species 



The world catch by species for 19^8, 

 1953 and 1957 is shown in table 2. It is 

 clear that production has been increasing 

 steadily and that yellowfin has been domin- 

 ant throughout. The largest category is 

 "other tuna" but this includes bluefin, big- 

 eye, little tuna, frigate makerel, and 

 certain amounts of yellowfin, skipjack and 

 albacore. The catch of Japan in 19L8 was 

 not recorded by species so it is included in 

 "other tuna." Bonito has made an important 

 contribution throughout. 



Table 2. — World tuna catch by principal 

 species, 1948, 1953 and 1957. 

 (in millions of pounds) 



Table 3. — Tuna catch by regions, 1948, 

 1953 and 1957 (bonito included), 

 (in millions of pounds) 



2/ Includes Turkey and European USSR. 



Catch by Country 



The rank order, relative importance, 

 and total catch of tuna and bonito made by 

 the world's important tuna producing coun- 

 tries is shown in figure 8. 



Landings are shown for all countries 

 having a catch of at least 5 million pounds 

 in any one of the three years selected for 

 comparisons (fig. 8) . As in the previous 

 sections, a significant increase in produc- 

 tion is apparent. Although tuna fishing is 

 conducted by almost every maritime country 



22 



