According to result of scientific investigation, there are about 10 tuna species distributed in Vietnam sea waters, of which the biggest reserves are skipjack tuna, big eye tuna and yellow fin tuna. Ocean tuna fishing industry in Viet Nam had just started in the early 1990s and boomed after 2000. Long-line fishing is the most common method. Tuna is often caught year-round with two main crops, depending on monsoon season (the North crop from November to May and the South crop from June to August).
Ocean tuna long-line fishing industry has developed in both company and household scale, concentrating in provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.
The tuna fishing fleet of Viet Nam includes in total 1,600 vessels, of which only 50 are modern and powerful vessels with the capacity of 200-750HP, the remaining are smaller ones with the capacity of 40-300HP. Recently the total tuna landing is estimated at 20,000MT a year.