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Management of Tropical Tunas in the Eastern Pacific Ocean
Author(s) -
Joseph James
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1970)99<629:mottit>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - yellowfin tuna , skipjack tuna , tuna , fishery , fishing , thunnus , population , geography , biology , demography , fish <actinopterygii> , sociology
Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) are harvested in the eastern Pacific Ocean by the fishing fleets of 10 nations. From 1950 to 1960 the combined catches of these two species averaged about 310 million pounds per year. With the advent of newly designed and highly efficient purse seine gear in the early 1960ˈs the catches increased, on the average, by about 10 to 20%. Much of this increase was in yellowfin tuna. Studies by the Inter‐American Tropical Tuna Commission have shown that this increased production reduced the population of yellowfin slightly below the size at which biomass production is maximal but has not affected the abundance of skipjack. On recommendations of the Commission, international agreement was reached in 1966 to restrict the capture of yellowfin tuna by a general quota system. A management program has been in effect since that time, and has resulted in the restoration and maintenance of the stock of yellowfin tuna at a level that can support the average maximum yield on a sustained basis. Though the program has been successful to date, certain concomitant problems of a biological, economic and political nature are evident.