Saving Seafood

IATTC adopts interim management procedure for Pacific bluefin, but again defers for tropical tunas

September 17, 2026 — The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) has adopted an interim management procedure for Pacific bluefin tuna and a measure to reflect a management procedure on South Pacific albacore, but again deferred any action on tropical tunas.

Businesses and NGOs alike were pushing the IATTC to adopt its first-ever management procedures for tuna ahead of the meeting. A management procedure, also known as a harvest strategy, is a means of setting pre-determined triggers on species management so regional fishery management organizations (RFMO) like the IATTC have a roadmap ahead of any sudden changes in fish stocks.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Pacific bluefin tuna will get some help as countries agree to new harvest strategy

September 14, 2026 — The annual meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) concluded on Sept. 4 with an agreement to adopt a long-term harvest strategy for Pacific bluefin tuna. The agreement aims to ensure sustainable management of this species, which has only recently recovered after decades of overfishing. But the commission fell short of establishing a harvest strategy for other tuna species — bigeye, skipjack and yellowfin — managed under the convention.

“A proposal was adopted … and that’s really great progress,” Dave Gershman, a senior officer for international fisheries at the U.S.-based think tank The Pew Charitable Trusts, who took part in the meeting as an observer, told Mongabay.

The commission approved the plan for Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) after 10 years of research and mediation. The plan establishes science-based rules to support the stock’s complete recovery and long-term protection while taking into account impacts on the broader ecosystem. “You want to have these things in place when times are good so it’s there when you need it,” Gershman said.

The 104th meeting of the IATTC took place in Lisbon from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. One of five main regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) responsible for tuna and tuna-like species, the commission is tasked with managing six tuna stocks, associated species and their ecosystems throughout the Eastern Pacific Ocean, from Canada south to Chile.

Read the full article at Mongabay 

Businesses, NGOs pushing for IATTC to adopt management procedures for tropical tuna

August 21, 2026 — Businesses and environmental NGOs are both working to push the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) into adopting its first-ever management procedures for tuna at its next meeting, which starts on 24 August.

Groups have been pushing the regional fishery management organization (RFMO) to adopt management procedures for multiple species it governs. Management procedures, also called harvest strategies, are a means of setting predetermined triggers on how a species is managed so that an RFMO has a clear roadmap for how to adjust fishing effort based on what surveys and scientific analysis of a stock indicate.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Pacific bluefin tuna working group meeting ends without recommendations

July 14, 2026 — A working group of nations that commercially harvest Pacific bluefin tuna concluded its July meeting without agreeing on new management measures to be implemented in 2027.

“For much of the last decade, Pacific bluefin management showed that when governments work together, they can bring a severely overfished species back from the brink of collapse. But at a joint management meeting in Nagasaki, Japan, governments disregarded a tentative agreement they made in March to adopt a much-needed management procedure for the species at this convening,” Dave Gershman, who heads up The Pew Charitable Trusts’ conservation work with Pacific RMFOs, said in a release

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA identifies six foreign governments engaging in IUU fishing, including Russia and China

July 7, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has identified six nations engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing based on the activities of those foreign governments from 2022 through 2024.

Every two years, the agency sends a report to Congress identifying which countries are engaged in IUU fishing, which countries have adequate shark protections, and which countries have forced labor present in their seafood supply chains. NOAA Fisheries also issues certifications based on what actions countries identified in past reports have done to address the problems raised by the agency.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Pacific bluefin tuna quotas soar by 80 percent in 2025

October 11, 2024 — According to NOAA Fisheries, commercial Pacific bluefin tuna fishermen in the United States will be able to harvest nearly 80 percent more tuna in 2025-2026, thanks to new catch limits set by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. The decision, made in September, follows an encouraging stock assessment by the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species, which found the Pacific bluefin population rebuilt a decade ahead of schedule. This increase offers a major boost for U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries, particularly in Southern California, after years of strict conservation efforts.

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission increased catch limits during a meeting in Panama in early September.

U.S. fishermen harvest Pacific bluefin tuna using hook-and-line, purse seine, and drift gillnet gear and land their catch mainly in Southern California ports. Additionally, increases in commercial catch limits will benefit recreational anglers who also catch Pacific bluefin off Southern California. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission resolution that increased commercial catches also called for consistent management of sport fishing.

In 2022, U.S. commercial fishers harvested 368 metric tons, or more than 800,000 pounds, of Pacific bluefin tuna. They earned more than $2.2 million for the catch. The 2-year catch limit for 2025–26 is increasing almost 80 percent, to 1,822 metric tons from 1,017 in 2023–24. That means the U.S. fleet can bring more Pacific bluefin tuna to the docks and seafood markets. This would be a welcome change for captains, crew, and seafood distributors after more than a decade of belt-tightening in the fishery.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Pew study finds tuna secured via transshipment is a USD 10.4 billion industry globally

September 19, 2024 — A recently published study performed by The Pew Charitable Trusts found that tuna transshipment within regional fishery management organization (RFMO)-managed fisheries represents as much as a quarter of all tuna sales globally.

The study looked at data collected by RFMOs like the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) on transshipment from 2012 to 2018. According to Pew, in 2018, 1.4 million metric tons (MT) of tuna were transshipped in 2018, with a total value of roughly USD 10.4 billion (EUR 9.3 billion).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

IATTC adopts electronic monitoring standards, improvements to compliance processes

September 12 2024 —  The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission has established new minimum standards for electronic monitoring on fishing vessels in a move that sustainability-focused NGOs are celebrating as a win.

The commission met for its annual meeting from 2 to 6 September amid calls for increased vessel monitoring from NGOs including Pew and the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation. Those calls were in part heeded, as the commission adopted new minimum standards for electronic vessel monitoring for the Eastern Pacific high seas fishing fleet.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NGOs express disappointment after IATTC fails to advance tuna conservation measure

August 31, 2021 — A weeklong Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meeting, held to advance the commission’s protection of bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, has failed deliver any such conservation measure.

With the IATTC unable to reach consensus, discussions on the measure roll over to its next virtual meeting, scheduled to take place on 18 October.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF: Eastern Pacific Ocean tuna fisheries can’t wait for COVID to end before action is taken

August 23, 2021 — Eastern Pacific Ocean fisheries managers must ensure that effective management measures are promptly put in place for bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna stocks when the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meets later this month, insists the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).

In 2020, the IATTC conducted new assessments of bigeye and yellowfin tuna, which found that while yellowfin remains healthy, there was a 53 percent probability that bigeye is overfished and a 50 percent probability that overfishing was occurring.

Read the full story at Seafood Source