September 23, 2020 — The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has published its 2019 nominal catch data, indicating that multiple species of tuna are being overfished.
The IOTC data indicates that 16 percent more Indian Ocean skipjack was caught than provided by the commission’s harvest control rule. At the same time, the data shows the Indian Ocean yellowfin, that is already overfished, exceeded 100,000 metric tons (MT) on top of the quantity “required to rebuild the stock in two generations.”