An updated report from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) indicates that the sustainability of the global tuna catch has remained largely the same since the last report in October 2018.
According to ISSF, roughly 86 percent of the world’s total tuna catch comes from stocks at “healthy” levels. Skipjack tuna stocks comprise over half of the total catch.
While the overall picture is relatively unchanged, the mortality rating for two stocks has shifted since the October report. Both Mediterranean albacore and Western Pacific yellowfin have been changed from “yellow” to “green.”
“The ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) determined that this change was needed to harmonize those ratings and the report’s ratings methodology,” the ISSF wrote.
Areas of concern are largely the same. Indian Ocean yellowfin has once again been considered overfished and is suffering from overfishing. Pacific Ocean bluefin has also remained unchanged, and is overfished and overfishing of the stock continues.
Assessments by the ISSF have also determined that the Atlantic Ocean bigeye stock is overfished, and that overfishing is still occurring. Easter Pacific bigeye is also experiencing overfishing.
Other key facts in the ISSF report include mortality levels: 78 percent of the 23 different stocks are well-managed, while 18 percent are experiencing overfishing and 4 percent have a high mortality rate. Of the gear used to catch tuna, 65 percent is utilizing purse seines, followed by longline at 11 percent, pole-and-line at 8 percent, gillnets at 4 percent, and miscellaneous gear at 12 percent.
