Story | 27 May 2026
MEDIA: Tuna has overtaken cod as the UK’s top‑selling seafood – here’s why
PML’s Professor Angus Atkinson MBE writes for The Conversation UK on the increase of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the southwest UK, and why tuna has now overtaken cod as the UK’s top-selling seafood.
The article also highlights the importance of long-term monitoring and collaborative marine observation networks in helping scientists understand rapid ecosystem shifts linked to climate change and fishing pressure.
“Awesome, unexpected and unforgettable: a sudden bolt of silver as a tuna jumped clear of the sea. Nobody else saw it, and I (Angus Atkinson) almost thought I was hallucinating. But since I first saw one from a boat just off the south Devon coast ten years ago, Atlantic bluefin tuna have steadily increased in the southwest UK. Last year I even saw them from the shore, and tuna now supports a local fishery.
Tuna is not the only species to make a rapid change in the southwest UK about a decade ago. Blue, thresher and porbeagle sharks suddenly increased dramatically. Spiny lobsters suddenly increased. Meanwhile basking sharks and many important fish species like cod and pollack declined. What is going on?”
