October 24, 2019 — About 15% of total commercial tuna catches worldwide come from overfished stocks, according to a new report by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) on the status of tuna stocks.
With stocks described as overfished and overfishing taking place, Atlantic Ocean bigeye and Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stocks face a particular challenge, according to the report.
ISSF, formed in 2009 as a global, non-profit partnership among the tuna industry, scientists and World Wide Fund for Nature, assessed status of seven species of major commercial oceanic tuna. This included 23 stocks in total (6 albacore, 4 bigeye, 4 bluefin, 5 skipjack and 4 yellowfin stocks).