This paper attempts to describe the scope of tuna processing and marketing in India especially as a small scale business venture. Tuna, commonly known as chicken of the sea is the third largest internationally traded fish commodity, which contributes about 7.6 per cent of the total trade in value terms. The Indian EEZ alone has a resource potential of 0.21million tonnes of tuna, of which the present exploitation is only around 0.05 million tonnes. Exploitation of tuna resources is identified as one of the thrust areas for increasing export of Indian marine products. Tuna product forms exported from India include mainly frozen, dried, chilled and canned items. The tuna processing industry has grown very rapidly in the last decade with a due domestic market share also. The other value added tuna products include barbecued tuna, seasoned tuna cubes, pickled tuna, tuna jerky, tuna biriyani, tuna paste and tuna shavings. The cost and return analysis in tuna processing assures a reasonable profit, and the break even quantity assessed is also found to be very much below the practically achievable quantity. Hence, the tuna processing venture could be a potential and productive option for the unemployed youths and performing SHGs. Encouraging potential clients to take up the venture, would also aid for effective utilization of a so far underutilized tuna resource.
