the eastern north Pacific gyral. Among methods of fishing not yet 

 used the technically most available is the long line method so far 

 utilized extensively only in the fisheries of Japan.. This method 

 may not only be necessary to the tapping of the geographically dif- 

 ferent stocks but it may also prove to be the means of drawing upon 

 the adult phases of the presently utilized stocks o At the present 

 time there seems to be no biological obstacle to continued increase 

 in American tuna production^ In fact the biological outlook in 

 other parts of the world are so favorable that foreign competition 

 is quite likely to intensify as other countries develop additional 

 tuna resouix:es wdiile looking to the existing American market to ab- 

 sorb their prod uc to 



PRODUCTION OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES 



For centuries tuna has been consumed fresh j smoked j or dried 

 and salted in the Orient and in various western European and Mediter- 

 ranean countries^ During the past 50 years, howeverj the develop- 

 ment of canned tuna products and the improvement of fishing vessels, 

 gear, and techniques have profoundly changed the pattern of produc- 

 tion and consumption in the world's tuna fisherieSo V/ith the crea- 

 tion of a strong demand for canned tuna, principally in the United 

 States and in Italy, tuna and tunalike fishes have become one of the 

 world's most important items in fish trade. 



Although the species of tuna and closely allied forms are numer- 

 ous, not all species have been taken in large commercial quantities. 

 The skipjack is the most abundant, supplying approximately 40 percent 

 of world tuna landings o The yellow fin tuna is second in importance; 

 world landings have been about 20 percent of the total, Albacore 

 landings are about half those of yellowfin tuna. Of the remaining 

 tuna species the most important are the blue fin of the Atlantic, 

 Mediterranean, and the eastern Pacific and the black or oriental 

 tuna ( Thunnus orientalis) of Japanese waters. Presently, Japan is 

 the only country fishing for the big-eyed tunaj other species of big- 

 eyed tuna are kno'«i to exist in other parts of the world and undoubt- 

 edly they will be taken commercially as new tuna fisheries are dev- 

 eloped. In recent years the little tuna (Euthynnus sp.) has been 

 taken in larger but not yet commercially important amounts. Closely 

 allied to the tunas are the tunalike bonitos ( Sarda spo): in certain 

 countries (Turkey, Peru) they are the most important of the tuna and 

 tunalike species taken, 



112 



