Tuna Welfare in Commercial Fisheries

Tuna are fast, wide-ranging predators whose capture and containment in purse seine and longline fisheries raises significant welfare concerns.

Key Facts

Bluefin tuna can reach speeds of 43 mph and migrate thousands of miles annually
Purse seine nets can encircle schools of thousands of tuna at once
Longlining catches target and non-target species with hundreds of miles of baited hooks
Atlantic bluefin tuna is critically endangered due to decades of overfishing
Tuna aquaculture catches wild juvenile tuna and fattens them in net pens, causing welfare problems

Welfare Considerations

Tuna welfare concerns arise from both wild fisheries and aquaculture. In purse seine fisheries, thousands of fish are compressed into small volumes as nets are drawn tight, causing crowding stress and injuries. Longlining leaves hooked fish to struggle for hours or days before hauling. Tuna aquaculture captures wild juvenile fish and holds them in net pens where their large home ranges cannot be approximated. The capture process itself causes acute stress, and confinement in pens that prevent natural high-speed swimming causes chronic welfare problems. As active, wide-ranging predators, tuna experience confinement particularly acutely.

What You Can Do

Choose tuna from pole-and-line caught fisheries that minimize bycatch and individual suffering
Reduce or eliminate tuna consumption from purse seine and longline fisheries
Support certification schemes that include welfare standards for tuna capture and handling
Advocate for more humane tuna fishery practices and regulations
Donate to organizations working on fish welfare in commercial fisheries