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) a "down the throat" spread of three torpedoes that sank the "Kanan Maru" (). Two days later, the submarine intercepted a three-ship convoy escorted by a destroyer and she fired two torpedoes that severely damaged the merchant ship, "Taiyu Maru" (). Then she let go with four more that quickly sank the cargo ship, "Bujun Maru" (). On 17 May, "Skipjack" sank the passenger-cargo ship "Tazan Maru" () off Indochina before heading back to Fremantle. Following participation in performance tests for the Mark 14 torpedo, "Skipjack" sailed for her fourth war patrol on 18 July 1942, conducted along the northwest