Of the worldwide commercial tuna catch, 86% comes from stocks at healthy levels, according to the newest International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) – while 10% requires more robust management.
The lates ISSF Status of the Stocks report shows a 1% improvement over 2023 report findings. Additionally, overfished stocks now account for 10% of the total catch – down from 11% in the previous report. The percentage of the catch that came from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance remained unchanged at 4%.
Mediterranean albacore, Indian Ocean bigeye, and Indian Ocean yellowfin stocks are considered to be overfished and subject to overfishing, while Pacific bluefin is considered overfished.
There are a number of key updates since November last year, notably that the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) updated the tropical tuna conservation measure, which now encourages member countries to initiate retrieval programs for lost, abandoned or stranded FADs, while shortening the FAD closure from 3 to 1.5 months.
In addition, the WCPFC updated its harvest strategy by adopting a Harvest Control Rule for North Pacific albacore like the one adopted by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in 2023.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) released updated catch data as well as a new Indian Ocean skipjack stock assessment that found no change in ratings. Based on the results of the assessment, a new total allowable catch (TAC) was adopted following the application of the Harvest Control Rule.
According to the Status of the Stocks report, 61% of stocks gobally are at a healthy level of abundance, 22% are at an intermediate level, and 17% are overfished – unchanged from the November 2023 report). The report finds that 78% of the 23 stocks are not experiencing overfishing, 13% are experiencing overfishing, and 9% are at an intermediate level.
66% of the catch is from purse seining, while longlining accounts for 9% of catches, pole-and-line for 7% and gillnets for 4%. 14% is attributed to miscellaneous gears.
The five largest catches in tonnes, unchanged since the previous report, are Western Pacific Ocean skipjack, Western Pacific Ocean yellowfin, Indian Ocean skipjack, Indian Ocean yellowfin, and Eastern Pacific Ocean yellowfin. The catch of major commercial tunas was 5.2 million tonnes in 2022, a 2% increase from 2021. 57% of it was skipjack tuna, followed by yellowfin (30%), bigeye (7%) and albacore (5%). Bluefin tunas accounted for 1% of the global catch.
