Saving Seafood

Atlantic tuna, swordfish and shark fisheries see mixed outlook

September 9, 2026 — Commercial fishermen from New England to the Southeast are seeing a mixed picture across Atlantic highly migratory species, with several major tuna and swordfish stocks remaining in relatively strong conditions while some shark stocks continue to face rebuilding challenges.

NOAA Fisheries released its 2024- 2025 Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report for Atlantic Highly Migratory Species on Sept. 4, providing an updated look at tunas, swordfish, billfish, and sharks managed along the East Coast, Gulf, and Caribbean.

For fishermen, the report offers more than a snapshot of stock health. It also shows where commercial landings and revenues are moving, including a notable decline in overall highly migratory species revenue in 2024.

Tuna stocks show some of the stronger signs

Among the major commercial species, North Atlantic albacore remained well above its biomass target and was not considered overfished or subject to overfishing. Atlantic yellowfin and western Atlantic skipjack were also classified as not overfished, with overfishing not occurring.

The picture is less straightforward for bluefin.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Western Atlantic acts as refuge for recovering bluefin tuna

April 27, 2026 — A sweeping three-decade study has confirmed that conservation measures in the western Atlantic have turned U.S. and Canadian waters into a critical refuge for Atlantic bluefin tuna — including fish that originate in the heavily fished eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are based on electronic tagging data from 1,720 bluefin tuna tagged between 1996 and 2025, combined with catch records going back to 1950. The international research team was led by Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University and included scientists from NOAA Fisheries, Acadia University, the University of Hawaiʻi, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, the Marine Institute in Ireland, and the Barcelona Zoo Foundation in Spain.

A TALE OF TWO FISHERIES

The catch data paint a stark picture of unequal fishing pressure across the Atlantic. Of total bluefin landings since 1950, the Mediterranean Sea alone accounted for 55 percent, while the entire western Atlantic—all waters west of the 45°W management line—accounted for just 11 percent. That disparity has widened in recent decades: the Mediterranean now represents 72 percent of Atlantic-wide bluefin catches.

Fishing pressure in the Mediterranean intensified sharply through the 1990s and 2000s, driven in part by the rise of capture-based aquaculture targeting more mature fish. Catches peaked at 60,000 metric tons in 2007—nearly double the scientific recommendations at the time. Historically, Mediterranean purse seine fisheries targeted juvenile fish aged one and two, removing them before they could grow large enough to migrate into the open Atlantic. In 2010, following widespread concern about the stock’s status, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) implemented significant quota cuts and binding conservation measures.

The western Atlantic has operated under a very different management regime. For more than 45 years, western catches have adhered to binding total allowable catch limits — typically a tenth of the eastern quota — and have included strong conservation measures such as prohibitions on targeted fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed by the Trump administration as the Gulf of America.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Western Atlantic Provides Refuge for Bluefin Tuna

April 22, 2026 — An international team of scientists deployed electronic tags on bluefin tunas across three decades to investigate stock movement between the eastern and western Atlantic. They also examined catch data dating back to 1950 to better understand the proportion of removals among regions.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Dr. Barbara Block, lead author from Stanford University summarized, “Our research demonstrates that lower fishing mortality in the West and North Atlantic has provided a refuge for eastern-origin Atlantic bluefin tuna, and highlights the importance of Atlantic waters to bolster the bluefin tuna population as a whole.” 

Atlantic bluefin tuna is a highly coveted species, managed as two stocks by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. The western stock is harvested by the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Canada. The eastern stock is targeted by many countries across the Mediterranean basin and eastern Atlantic. ICCAT divides management of these two stocks at the 45oW meridian, setting separate catch limits and management measures for each stock.

Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator of Fisheries stated, “Management of this internationally shared resource requires high quality scientific information—and this work provides one example of that. This research addresses one of the primary sources of uncertainty surrounding the amount of mixing and movement occurring between these two stocks. This is a critical piece of information needed to inform sustainable yield advice.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries