LINE-CAUGHT tuna landed in Newlyn has been rebranded as "Coruna" by a major supermarket in a bid to boost sales.
Morrisons has changed the name of the fish, which will be in season for the next six weeks, in an attempt to make it more appealing to customers.
The supermarket decided to rebrand the tuna after finding that British shoppers knew little about native fish and were reluctant to try unfamiliar varieties.
A survey carried out by the company discovered that only 10 per cent of those questioned could name three fish and 2 per cent could not name a single species.
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James French, spokesman for Morrisons, said: "There's nothing wrong with simply calling it Cornish tuna – and it does say that on the label too.
"By giving it a brand name we're hoping to boost the profile of the fish because a lot of customers have no idea that tuna comes from Cornwall.
"It's a brilliant fish, light pink with a nice delicate flavour.
Customers
"The fish is only in season for four to eight weeks – blink and you'll miss it. So it's important our customers know it's there on our fish counters before it goes out of season."
Three boats are currently fishing for tuna from Newlyn and working alongside Spanish fishing vessels. The first landing of line-caught Cornish tuna in Newlyn took place at the end of last month after fishermen returned from their foray into fishing grounds 200 miles from Land's End.
Two boats, the Nova Spero, under the command of Shaun Edwards, and the Ben Loyal, skippered by Quentin Knights, came back to Newlyn with more than 1,000 highly prized Albacore tuna.
But despite being the third most commonly consumed fish in the UK, the vessels are struggling to sell their catches at a price that is economically viable. As a result much of the catch is sold to France. This will be the fifth season that Cornish vessels have fished alongside Spanish boats.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN