The Pacific Community
The Pacific Community | SPC · Oceanic Fisheries Programme
The western and central Pacific tuna fishery: 2021 overview and status of stocks
Steven Hare
Claudio Castillo Jordán
Scutt Phillips
The tuna fisheries assessment report (commonly referred to as the "TFAR") provides current information on the tuna fisheries of the western and central Pacific Ocean and the fish stocks (mainly tuna) that are impacted by them. The information provided in this report is summary in nature, but a list of references (mostly accessible via the internet)...
Overview of tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean, including economic conditions – 2021
Thomas Ruaia
This paper provides a broad description of the major fisheries in the WCPFC Statistical Area (WCP-CA) highlighting activities during the most recent calendar year (2021) and covering the most recent summary of catch estimates by gear and species. The provisional total WCP-CA tuna catch for 2021 was estimated at 2,493,571 mt, around 210,000 mt lower...
Project 60: Progress towards achieving SC17 recommendations
Tom Peatman
Simon Nicol
The western and central Pacific tuna fishery: 2020 overview and status of stocks.
C Hamer
The tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), encompassed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area (WCPFC-CA), are diverse, ranging from small-scale, artisanal operations in the coastal waters of Pacific states, to large-scale, industrial purse seine, pole-and-line and longline operations in the...
Pathways to sustaining tuna-dependent Pacific Island economies during climate change
Johann D. Bell
Inna Senina
Tim Adams
Climate-driven redistribution of tuna threatens to disrupt the economies of Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and sustainable management of the world's largest tuna fishery. Here we show that by 2050, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 8.5), the total biomass of three tuna species in the waters of ten Pacific SIDS could...
WCPO Ecosystem and Climate Indicators from 2000 to 2020
Oceanic Fisheries Programme - Pacific Community (Contributors in alphabetical order)
Valérie Allain
Project 60 - Progress towards achieving SC16 recommendations
Adaptive management of fisheries in response to climate change
Sangaalofa T Clark
Agnes Yeeting
The eight Pacific Island countries that are the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu), together with Tokelau, manage the largest tuna fishery in the world. As a group, these Small Island Developing States have developed a system to mana...
Nicholas Ducharme-Barth
Graham Pilling
This report focuses on the primary tuna stocks targeted by the main WCPO industrial fisheries - skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (T. obesus) and South Pacific albacore tuna (T. alalunga). The report is divided into three parts: the first section provides an overview of the fishery, with emphasis on developments...
Provides a description of the major tuna fisheries in the WCPFC Statistical Area highlighting activities during the most recent calendar year (2019) and covering the most recent summary of catch estimates by gear and species, including economic conditions.
Project 90 update: Better data on fish weights and lengths for scientific analyses
Jed I Macdonald
Caroline Sanchez
Timothy Park
SC16-SA-WP-03 2020 BET stock assessment report REV3
Matthew Vincent
John Hampton
Stock assessment of yellowfin tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean
Paul A. Hamer
Can the Tropical Western and Central Pacific Tuna Purse Seine Fishery Contribute to Pacific Island Population Food Security?
Shelton J. Harley
Projected population growth in Pacific Island countries, combined with their narrow resource base, declines in net food production per capita and growing reliance on imported foods will increase food insecurity. We examined whether policies requiring retention of edible, non-target catches by the Western and Central Pacific purse seine fishery coul...
Better purse seine catch composition estimates: progress on the Project 60 work plan
S Fukofuka
Neville Smith
This report summarises progress on the Project 60 work plan as endorsed by the 2018 Scientific Committee. The main activities undertaken since SC14 were: a paired grab/spill trip, conducted on a Solomon Island flagged purse seiner in March 2019; construction of beta response models of species compositions; and, estimation of species-specific catch...
Summary of purse seine fishery bycatch at a regional scale, 2003-2016
Sylvain Caillot
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) has a responsibility to assess the impact of fishing on non-target species. In this report, we estimate the bycatch of the large-scale purse seine fishery operating primarily in tropical waters of the WCPFC Area east of 140°E. These large vessels, typically greater than 500 tonnes carryin...
The use of electronic monitoring within tuna longline fisheries: implications for international data collection, analysis and reporting
Timothy J Emery
Rocio Noriega
Ashley J. Williams
Electronic monitoring (EM) consisting of on-board video imagery and on-shore analysis, offers an alternative or supplement to at-sea observer programs in commercial fisheries. In the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), where observer coverage in most tuna longline fisheries has historically been <5%, the advent of EM has been perceived as a t...
Summary of longline fishery bycatch at a regional scale, 2003-2017
L Bell
WCPFC has responsibilities in: assessing the impact of fishing and environmental factors on non-target species and species belonging to the same ecosystem or dependent upon or associated with the target stocks; to minimize catch of non-target species; to protect biodiversity; and, to adopt, when necessary, conservation and management measures for n...
Chapter 14: Climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptations: Western and Central Pacific Ocean marine fisheries
Alex Sen Gupta
Ecosystem approach to monitoring pelagic fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean
Malo Hosken
Long-term collection of data and samples appears critical to contribute to our understanding of the impacts of fisheries and climate change on the marine ecosystems, and for the implementation of management measures for sustainable use of the resources. In the western and central Pacific Ocean, the source of 50% of the worldwide tuna catches, sever...
Predicting skipjack tuna dynamics and effects of climate change using SEAPODYM with fishing and tagging data
Patrick Lehodey
Beatriz Calmettes
Overview of tuna fisheries, stock status and management framework in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
Shelton Harley
Stephen Brouwer
SEAPODYM application for yellowfin tuna in the Pacific Ocean.
Proposal for a Bycatch Data Exchange Protocol (BDEP) amongst the t-RFMOs
S. Clarke
TR70 Part 2
T. Lawson
Karine Briand
Diversifying the use of tuna to improve food security and public health in Pacific Island countries and territories
Edward H Allison
Supplementary Material_Diversifying the use of tuna to improve food security and public health in Pacific Island countries and territories
Projected population growth in Pacific Island countries, combined with their narrow resource base, declines in net food production per capita and growing reliance on imported foods, will increase their food insecurity. We examined whether policies requiring retention of edible, non-target catches by the Western and Central Pacific purse seine fishe...
Recent trends in the south Pacific albacore longline fishery Rev 1 (24 July)
Shelton J Harley
WCPFC Secretariat
Project 62: SEAPODYM applications in WCPO
Olivier Titaud
Inter-ocean asynchrony in whale shark occurrence patterns
Ana M M Sequeira
Camille Mellin
Laurent Floch
Corey J. A. Bradshaw
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus, Smith, 1828) is a migratory species (classed as Vulnerable by the IUCN) with genetic and circumstantial evidence for inter-ocean connectivity. Given this migratory behaviour, population-wide occurrence trends can only be contextualized by examining the synchrony in occurrence patterns among locations where they occ...
International workshop on developing strategies for monitoring data-limited deepwater demersal line fisheries in the Pacific Ocean
Nokome Bentley
Mike Batty
Analysis of the implementation and effectiveness of key management measures for tropical tunas
http://www.wcpfc.int/doc/MI-WP-01/Analysis-implementation-and-effectiveness-key-management-measures-tropical-tunas
Estimation of catches and condition of edible bycatch species taken in the equatorial purse seine fishery
S. Harley
An ocean observation system for monitoring the effects of climate change on the ecology and sustainability of pelagic fisheries in the Pacific Ocean
Climate change presents an emerging challenge to the sustainable management of tuna fisheries, and robust information is essential to ensure future sustainability. Climate and harvest affect tuna stocks, populations of non-target, dependent species and the ecosystem. To provide relevant advice we need an improved understanding of oceanic ecosystems...
Targeting bigger schools can reduce ecosystem impacts of fisheries
Laurent Dagorn
John D. Filmalter
Fabien Forget
Nicolas Bez
Sustainability of living resource exploitation relies on an ecosystem management approach. Within tropical tuna purse seine fisheries using fish aggregating devices (FADs), such an approach incorporates the reduction of bycatch, in particular vulnerable species such as elasmobranchs. The levels of total bycatch (in mass) from fishing operations usi...
PROJECT 62: SEAPODYM working progress and applications to Pacific tuna and billfish populations and fisheries
Jeffrey J. Polovina
Overview of tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean, including economic conditions - 2011
P. Terawasi
SEAPODYM working progress and applications to Pacific skipjack tuna population and fisheries
S. Okamoto
Project 62: Seapodym applications in WCPO – progress Report
Characterisation of the purse seine fishery in Papua New Guinea
Behaviour and habitat preferences of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and their influence on longline fishery catches in the western Coral Sea
Adam Langley
Naomi P. Clear
John S. Gunn
Data on the depth and temperature preferences of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) derived from archival tags were integrated with data on the spatial and temporal distribution of catches from an eastern Australian longline fishery to investigate the relationship between bigeye tuna behaviour and the fishery. Tagged individuals demonstrated variability...
A comprehensive review and proposed investigation of the age, growth, and reproductive biology of bigeye tuna in the Pacific Ocean.
Simon David Hoyle
Brett Molony
C. Millar
A description of tag-recapture data for bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the western and central Pacific Ocean
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) undertook a large-scale tagging program on tropical tunas from 1989 to 1992. While bigeye tuna were not the focus of this program, more than 8,000 bigeye were tagged and released, with more than 1,000 returns currently received, some up to 12 years after release. In this paper we describe various chara...
Migration and habitat preferences of bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus, on the east coast of Australia
J Gunn
N Miyabe
Migration and habitat preferences of bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus, on the east coast of Australia — a project using archival and conventional tags to determine key uncertainties in the species stock structure, movement dynamics and CPUE trends Migration and habitat preferences of bigeye tuna, Thunnus obesus, on the east coast of Australia – a projec...
The western and central Pacific tuna fishery, 2002, overview and status of stocks
OVERVIEW OF THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN TUNA FISHERIES, 2000
Antony D. Lewis
REPORT OF OBSERVER ACTIVITY ON BOARD JAMARC DRIFTNET VESSEL R.V. SHINHOYO MARU FISHING FOR ALBACORE IN
Peter Sharpies
Alastair Allan
THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC TUNA FISHERY: OVERVIEW OF THE FISHERY AND CURRENT STATUS OF TUNA STOCKS
Antony Lewis
INDONESIAN TUNA FISHERIES: GETTING TO KNOW OUR NEIGHBOURS
DATA REQUIREMENTS OF THE SPC OCEANIC FISHERIES PROGRAMME AND STATUS OF DATA
Tim Lawson
Colin Millar
Emmanuel Schneiter
A REVIEW OF CATCHES OF TUNA AND TUNA-LIKE SPECIES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
Meetings of Multilateral High-level Conference on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (MHLC) in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) held to date have made significant progress towards the establishment of a Convention for the highly migratory fish stocks in the WCPO. Article 10(3) of the draft Convention infers...
REVIEW OF ANNUAL CATCH ESTIMATES FOR TUNA FISHERIES OF THE PHILIPPINES
Timothy A Lawson
U)Pl£ ESTIMATES OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN BIGEYE TUNA CATCH AND POPULATION PARAMETERS
1. INTRODUCTION Bigeye tuna (Thunnns obesus) occur in the western Pacific from approximately 45° N to 45° S, and are captured by a variety of gears, including longline (as adults), purse seine and pole-and-line. They are however primarily taken by longline gear, for which they are a major target species. Smaller but still substantial amounts are ta...
ANALYSIS OF PURSE SEINE SET TIMES FOR DIFFERENT SCHOOL ASSOCIATIONS: A FURTHER TOOL TO ASSIST IN COMPLIANCE WITH FAD CLOSURES? Analysis of purse seine set times for different school associations: a further tool to assist in compliance with FAD closures?
S J Harley
P Williams
J Hampton
One of the key components to CMM2008-01 adopted at WCPFC-5 in Busan in December 2008, was a prohibition on setting on FADs for a period in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The application of FAD restrictions in other RFMO's has suffered from problems of compliance and monitoring. Here we examined operational level purse seine catch and effort data for almost...
Mark G Meekan
Australian Institute of Marine Science
University of Washington Seattle
Mark Maunder
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
Eric L Gilman
Pelagic Ecosystems Research Group
Anne Lorrain
Institute of Research for Development
Jock W. Young
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Alistair J. Hobday
Tuna Fisheries Assessment Report: 201 overview and status of stocks
WCPFC Scientific Committee
Oceanic Fisheries Programme
Nouméa, New Caledonia