Identity card
Tuna is a pelagic fish, with a much appreciated meat, from the scombridae family. Five species dominate the world market:
- white-meat tuna (Thunnus thynnus) or long-fin (Pacific, Indian, Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean), with a white, barely pink meat, lives for about ten years, growing to about 1.30 m for a maximum weight of 40 kg ;
- blue-fin tuna or red tunny (Thunnus alalunga) (Mediterranean, Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans), the most imposing tuna species (4 m long with a maximum weight of 700 kg), can live for up to 30/40 years ;
- yellowfin tuna or ahi (over 2 m long and 170 kg) can live up to 8 years ;
- striped tuna or bonito (1.10 m and 3.5 kg) is found in tropical waters and it does not live for more than 5 years ;
-bigeye tuna (also called "ah i") is the most deep-bodied (1.50 m for 200 kg) and it has a life expectancy of 12 years.
An excellent swimmer that can travel long distances, the tuna is a migratory fish that runs in schools, which makes it easier to catch.
While the meat of white-meat tuna is similar to veal, blue-fin tuna is closer to beef, which has earned it the nickname of "steak of the sea" (100 g of tuna provides 30 g of proteins, compared to 18 g for a steak).
Production and consumption
Tuna is fished in three ways (tuna trawler boats, tuna canning boats and long line tuna boats). Because of the shortage of fish stocks, the acceptable catch rate for blue-fin tuna has been set at 13,500 tons for 2010, and the fishing season has been reduced to one month (15 May to 15 June).
While tinned tuna is still the most sold fish in France (100,772 tons in 2008), fresh tuna has dropped sharply, falling from 4,733 tons in 2005 to 1,986 tons in 2009 (- 42%). Tuna consumption peaks between June and September.
(Sources: Ifremer, FranceAgrimer, Semmaris)
At Rungis Market
1,256 tons of blue-fin tuna were sold at Rungis Market in 2009 (+11% on2008), and 57 tons of white-meat tuna (-36% on 2008). “We mainly sell yellowfin tuna, frequently confused with blue-fin tuna because of the colour of its flesh,” says José De Melo, manager of Comptoirs Océaniques. “It comes from the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka, the Maldives and La Reunion in particular, and we sell about 800 tons per year.”
