SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — February 24, 2014 — In 2012 a majority of the tuna commercially caught and sold in the international market comes from healthy stocks said the International Seafood Sustainabiliy Foundation (ISSF) in its annual stock summary report.
The Foundation said 4.5 million tons of tuna was fished across the 23 stocks of major species which include alabacore, bigeye, bluefin, skipjack and yellowfin.
Over half the catch, around 56 percent of the landings, were made up of skipjack, followed by yellowfin at 27 percent, bigeye at 10 percent and albacore at 5 percent. Bluefin tuna landings accounted for 1 percent of the global catch the ISSF said.
Globally, the Foundation said 65 percent of the stocks were at healthy abundance levels; 22 percent were overfished and 13 percent are an intermediate level. Meanwhile, 43 percent of global tuna stocks are expereinceing a low fishing mortality, 22 percent are overfished and 35 percent have a high fishing mortality that is being managed adequately.
But the highlight from the findings was 94 percent of the commercially used catch comes from healthy stocks. This is largely the result of the skipjack fishery acounting for the bulk of the landings. In contrast, most bluefin stocks and 2 out of 6 albacore stocks are overfished, but combined they make a relatively small fraction of the total catch.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.