Featured News
87.7% of Global Tuna Catch Continues to Come from Stocks at Healthy Levels; 9.6% Require Stronger Management
Of the total commercial tuna catch worldwide, 87.7% of the global catch continues to be sourced from stocks at “healthy” levels of abundance, according to the newest International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) Status of the Stocks report. In addition, 9.6% of the total tuna catch came from overfished stocks, and 2.7% came from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance.
Several tuna stocks worldwide are considered overfished and/or subject to overfishing:
- The Indian Ocean yellowfin and Pacific bluefin tuna stocks continue to be overfished and subject to overfishing.
- Atlantic Ocean bigeye status remains overfished and subject to overfishing, although the results of the most recent RFMO Science Committee meeting were not available at the time of writing and will be reflected in the next report update.
- Indian Ocean albacore and bigeye continue to be subject to overfishing.
- All skipjack and most albacore stocks remain healthy.
ISSF publishes its signature Status of the Stocks report twice each year using the most current scientific data on 23 major commercial tuna stocks.
Featured Blog
ICYMI: Helping Fisheries Managers Better Monitor and Enforce Requirements for Member States
What good are regulations if they’re not followed? Why adopt policies without a strong plan to monitor adherence to them? In an era of greater expectations regarding transparency and accountability, these are the questions stakeholders are increasingly asking of RFMOs. And for tuna fisheries, a vital, global food source and economic engine, those expectations are especially heightened. Now, a group of policy experts is stepping in to help tuna RFMOs continue strengthening their compliance processes.
Featured Infographic
An infographic shows the size and fishing capacity of the large-scale purse-seine fleet fishing for tropical tunas worldwide, based on ISSF research.
It also indicates how ISSF’s ProActive Vessel Register (PVR) vessel list helps to provide transparency of the fleet’s fishing activities, including changes in fish hold volume.
ISSF in the News
Fuel consumption of free-swimming school versus FAD strategies in tropical tuna purse seine fishing
Nota Bene Episode 145: Tuna Sustainability: A Model Bigger than its Niche with ISSF President Susan Jackson [PODCAST]
