Overfished stocks account for only 2% of global tuna catches, according to the latest Status of the Stocks report by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), while 87% of tuna catches are from healthy stocks.
What has changed since the last report in November 2024 is that stocks classed as overfished have dropped by eight percentage points and the proportion of catches from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance is 10%. The key change is that the spawning biomass (SSB) rating for Indian Ocean yellowfin has improved from orange to yellow, and the exploitation rate or fishing mortality (F) rate for the stock improved from orange to green.
According to the March 2025 report, the Indian Ocean bigeye stock is overfished and subject to overfishing, unchanged since the November 2024 report, and Pacific Ocean bluefin is overfished, also unchanged since the November 2024 report.
According to ISSF figures, the five largest catches – all unchanged since the previous report – are Western Pacific Ocean skipjack, Western Pacific Ocean yellowfin, Indian Ocean skipjack, Indian Ocean yellowfin, and Eastern Pacific Ocean skipjack.
The catch in 2023 of major commercial tunas was 5.2 million tonnes, a 1% decrease from 2022. 57% of this was skipjack tuna, followed by yellowfin (31%), bigeye (7%) and albacore (4%). Bluefin tunas accounted for 1% of the global catch.
