The Tuna of Phu Yen

Even Greenpeace likes these high-sea-going fishermen of Vietnam. They land more than 10.000 tons of Yellowfin and Big Eye per year that they sustainable catch with long lines onlyTuna is one of the most requested catch in the world. The pressure on the resources keeps up continuously strong more and more countries are catching and processing the mostly requested fish. The main markets for Tuna are Japan and the st1:country-region w:st="on">US. Namely Japanese buyers pay premium prices for top quality catch. But also in Europe the consumption of tuna is rising continuously. Tuna is something very special in Vietnam. The tuna fishermen from Nha Trang to Da Nang in the middle of Vietnam catch the valuable fish only with long lining and try to do their best to sustain the source and land a high quality catch. The main species they harvest are Yellowfin and Big Eye which they hunt with wooden vessels of up to 40 meters length. Even Greenpeace, who researched the tuna fishing some time ago were deeply impressed about the way of catching this fish in Vietnam. Shiny, beautiful tuna fish is unloaded out of the belly of the wooden vessel ashore, then transferred into the circle round basket rowing-boats and brought ashore. Then it is put on a cloth carrier fixed between two bamboo sticks and is taken the short distance on the sandy beach to the small processing area. The tuna is always covered by a wet cloth also that nothing can damage the skin and the strong sun cannot dry it up. The fish had been already gutted on board for this a fin on the belly of the fish had to been cut to take the intestines out of the gills together with the blood vessels the same time. Then the empty fish had been filled with wet ice. Tuna under the knife Now the gills are cleaned again by with a knife ashore and the fish is emptied from the ice and cleaned. Then the classification of the catch can start. Nguyen Thanh Son has been a skipper on a tuna vessel himself for several years and now he is controlling the quality of the landed catch here in the small fishing village Dong Tac in the Phu Yen province situated north of the famous Vietnamese beach resort Nha Trang. Son realizes and detects the quality of the fish already when it is taken out of the fish hold of the vessel. He uses a hollow needle to cut a sample from the belly and under the first fin from the fish. Then he also cuts a part from the tail with the knife. The lighter the meat shows the better appears the tuna quality, as the fish had been bled properly already on board of the vessel after catching. So no flaming red tuna is the target of the fishermen, that is taken as the best quality like the Europeans and the US market likes this fish the real good tuna only shows a light pink colour in the meat, nor more. The fishermen of Phu Yen even mock the deep red tuna as Chocolate-meat and they explain, that this fish has not been really well bled and wrongly stored on board, so that the blood had been kept in the fish to rot and therefore it shows the deep red , brownish colour. But a lot of importers and buyers from Europe and the US are just exactly mistaking this colouring as high quality. The fishermen of Phu Yen mostly land Yellowfin, in Latin Thunnus alabacares and Big Eye-tuna, in Latin Thunnus obesus. About 80% of the catch is Yellowfin the rest contains of Big Eye. The latter is highly requested mostly in the Japanese market for it shows a lighter meat and has a higher fat content the best Big Eye and Yellowfin (Grade A) directly from the landing place fresh to the Japanese market. For this purpose the fish goes right away - only 20 minutes takes its landing and classification - into a cool-truck and is registered with a numbered tag that its way can be traced back right to the catching vessel. The fish will be completely covered with ice and trucked to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. From there the catch reaches in a few hours the market in Japan. Only 48 hours after landing the fish is already sold on the famous fish market in Tokyo. A lot of catch also reaches the US market by plane. This Yellowfin of today, i.e., will be in 60 hours in Miami. There are also customers waiting for first class tuna from Vietnam.

Even Greenpeace likes these high-sea-going fishermen of Vietnam.