May 2004 Issue--While more than $1.5 billion of canned tuna is sold in the U.S. each year, the tuna industry is facing a crisis. As reported in the New York Times, shrimp has displaced tuna as the most popular seafood in the country, and consumption trends do not hold much promise. Consumption of all types of tuna has fallen by more than 15% over the past four years, and the industry largely attributes the drop to adding mercury warnings to labels of albacore tuna.
The pattern shows no signs of abating. As the Times notes, sales of canned white tuna fell 6% when word spread that such a warning would be added to the label. To add to the troubled waters, analysts fear the effects could extend beyond tuna and to seafood, generally.