Purse seine and pole-and-line vessels operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) caught 368,427 metric tons (MT) of tuna in the first-half of this year, an increase of almost 30,000 MT year-on-year, according to the latest estimates from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).
While the EPO’s yellowfin catch decreased by more than 8,000 MT to 120,076 MT for the six-month period from 1 January through 2 July 2017, significantly greater volumes of skipjack, bigeye and Pacific bluefin tuna were caught by the fleets.
Skipjack landings in the region were up from 179,448 MT in the first-half of last year to 205,262 MT in H1 2017. The bigeye catch climbed from 22,979 MT to 36,501 MT, while bluefin increased from 2,908 MT to 3,643 MT.
There was, however, a 660 MT decline in this year’s black skipjack catch, which totaled 2,187 MT.
Ecuador contributed 47.7 percent of the EPO’s total tuna catch or 175,794 MT in H1 2017, including 29,503 MT of yellowfin, 124,860 MT of skipjack and 20,687 MT of bigeye. Mexico, meanwhile, contributed 18.3 percent or 67,536 MT of the total, and Panama accounted for 10.9 percent of the total or 40,124 MT.
All of the EPO’s Pacific bluefin was caught by Mexico.
