1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Table 5-1 



Productivity in metric tons 

 and status of highly migra- 

 tory pelagic fisheries in U.S. 

 waters of the Atlantic Ocean 



'Total LTPY, CPY, and RAY under present tistiing patterns by U S and foreign nationals. 



'1995-97 average from ICCAT I1998al (1994-96 average used for billlishesi 



3|CCAT (In press (a)) 



■"Individual LTPY's, CPY's and RAY's based on entire stock regardless of harvesting nation 



Catch of yellowfin tuna, 

 Manteo, North Carolina. 



onimciidations by ICCAT and implemented via 

 regulatory articles under the Atlantic lunas Con- 

 vention. ICCAT has set and allocated western 

 Miierni tuna quotas by country since l'^)82 and 

 eastern bluefin quotas since 1 994. ICCAT first es- 

 tablished catch limitations for north Atlantic 

 swordfish in 19')1 and south Atlantic swordfish 

 in 1994; country-specific quotas have since been 

 adopted for both stocks. 



SPECIES AND STATUS 



From the early 1960's through 1977, U.S. fish- 

 ermen caught an average of about 5,000 metric 

 tons (t) per year (2,000-12,000 t/year) of the 

 highly migratory pelagic species (Figure 'i-1). 

 During the late 1970's and early 1980's, U.S. fish- 

 ermen caught 8,000 t or more per year, and since 

 1985 they have caught 1 5,000-20,000 t/year. The 

 U.S. share ot current potential yield for the highly 

 migratory pelagic resource is 16,400 t/year, and 

 long-term potential vielci to the U.S. fleet is esti- 

 mated at 18,100 t/year (Table 5-1) (ICCAT, 

 1998a). 



Since l')(i(), the top species b\' volume in the 

 U.S. harvest has changed from bluefin tuna to 

 swordfish to yellowfin tuna (Figure 5-1) as each 

 species declined due to fishing pressure and U.S. 

 fishing effort shifted. Durint: 1961-7.1, bluefin 



tuna represented 45-80% of the U.S. western At- 

 lantic catch of large pelagics. But since 1980, the 

 percentage has dropped to less than 15%, reflect- 

 ing the decline in the bluefin tuna population, 

 catch restrictions, and the increasing harvests of 

 alternative species. During 1961-73, swordfish 

 represented 5-20% of the U.S. catch, rose to 65% 

 in 1982, but has since dropped to about 25%. 

 During 1961-83, the percentage of yellowfin tuna 

 in the U.S. north Atlantic catch was usually less 

 than 10%, but that has since risen to 35-45%). 



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