The Western and Central Pacific Ocean’s bigeye, yellowfin, albacore, and skipjack tuna are all in healthy condition and the stocks are not overfished, according to a report issued recently by the Pacific Community.
According to the report, “The western and central Pacific tuna fishery: 2020 overview and status of stocks,” the tuna catch for 2020 was estimated at 2,743,310 metric tons (MT) a decrease from the record high of 2,987,934 MT caught in 2019.
The purse-seine fishery accounted for an estimated 1,881,706 MT, or 69 percent, of the total catch in 2020 – a drop from the record high of 2,101,408 MT caught in 2019.
The pole-and-line fishery landed an estimated 235,000 MT, or 9 percent of the catch. The report also added that a South Pacific-wide albacore stock assessment was conducted jointly by the Pacific Community and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) for the first time in 2021.
The South Pacific albacore catch was 64,862 MT in 2020, 6 percent lower than the five-year average, and 20 percent lower than the all-time high of 80,986 MT caught in 2010.
SPC Senior Fisheries Scientist Steven Hare said the signs indicate the four tropical tuna stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean “are considered to be very healthy.”
“The biomass is in a good state – it’s above this overfished level, as we call it,” he said. Stocks are also above the overfishing level, he said.
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https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/status-of-stocks-report-finds-tuna-stocks-in-western-and-central-pacific-ocean-not-overfished