Skipjack tuna commercial tunas, and its population is considered sustainable against its current consumption. Its fishing is still controversial due to the methodology, with rod and reel or fishery options being promoted as ecologically preferable. Purse seine methods are considered unsustainable by some authorities due to excess bycatch, although bycatch is said to be much reduced if fish aggregation devices are not used. These considerations have led to the availability of canned skipjack marked with the fishing method used to catch it. Skipjack is considered to have "moderate" mercury contamination. As a result, pregnant women are advised against eating large quantities. In
USS Skipjack (SS-184) until again undergoing overhaul at Mare Island in July and August 1941. "Skipjack" returned on 16 August and commenced patrols off Midway Island, Wake Island, and the Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands. In October 1941, SubDiv 15 (then commanded by "Sunshine" Murray) was transferred to ComSubAsiatic Fleet, along with the tender "Holland", and Joe Connolly's SubDiv 16, as SubRon 2. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December, "Skipjack" was in the Philippines undergoing repairs at the Cavite Navy Yard. On 9 December, "Skipjack" (under the command of Charles L. Freeman) departed Manila on her first war patrol, with