Illegal tuna fishing costs Pacific US$740m: report

Wellington

ILLEGAL tuna fishing in the Pacific has reached a "staggering" value of up to US$740 million a year, a study released on Tuesday has found.

The Pacific supplies about 60 per cent of the world's tuna, an economic mainstay for some small island nations, but the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) study is the first attempt to quantify the impact of banned activities.