79 



. . . Tropical Tunas 



the 1980's and many U.S. fishermen quit 

 or moved to the CWP, leaving Mexico the 

 dominant fleet in the ETP with over 50 

 purse seiners. U.S. vessels decreased to 

 about 10 in 1990-91 in response to dolphin 

 safety concerns. Purse seiners (all coun- 

 tries) in the ETP in 1991 numbered over 

 125. 



Gears used in the CWP fishery include 

 purse seine, ring net, handline, pole-and- 

 line, and longline. Purse seiners, domi- 

 nated by the (Jnited States and Japan, take 

 30-50% of the yellowfin tuna catch. In 1 989 

 the total number of purse seiners in the 

 CWP was more than 120. In 1990-91 about 

 50 U.S. seiners operated in the CWP. 



Currently, there is no international tuna 

 management in the ETP; each coastal na- 

 tion regulates fishing within its own EEZ. 

 Until 1980 the Inter-American Tropical 

 Tuna Commission (IATTC) regulated the 

 international fishery with catch quotas. 

 Since then, IATTC regulations have been 

 suspended because Mexico is not an 

 IATTC member. 



Also, there is no overall resource man- 

 agement program in the CWP, though the 

 Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), which rep- 

 resents the affected South Pacific island 

 nations, has instituted a licensing program 

 for foreign (distant-water) fishing fleets 



through access agreements. The U.S. fleet 

 is currently limited to 50 purse seiners in 

 the FFA region under an access agree- 

 ment (South Pacific Regional Tuna 

 Treaty). 



More skipjack tuna are caught than any 

 other tunas. Recent average yield (RAY) of 

 Pacific skipjack tuna is 767,000 t from the 

 CWP (Fig. 18-1) and 87,000 t from the 

 ETP; angler catches are small. The species 

 is believed underutilized, though the long- 

 term potential yield (LTPY) is unknown. 

 The annual dockside value of the Pacific 

 skipjack tuna catch is about $680 million, 

 and for yellowfin tuna it is $450 million, 

 based on a conservative dockside price of 

 $800/t for both species. 



The recent average yield of yellowfin 

 tuna for the entire Pacific is about 560,000 

 t (Table 18-1), distributed about equally 

 between the ETP and the CWP (Fig. 18-2). 

 Recent assessments of yellowfin tuna indi- 

 cate that the LTPY for the ETP is about 

 250,000 t, making this fish fully utilized. 

 The LTPY for the CWP is unknown because 

 a comprehensive analysis of potential yield 

 has not been performed. However, catch 

 rates are fairly steady, and preliminary 

 analyses of stock condition suggest that 

 the fishery may be nearing full production. 



Figure 18-1.— U.S. skipjack tuna 

 landings from the Pacific Ocean, 

 the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP), 

 and the central-western Pacific 

 (CWP), 1970-90. 



o 

 o 

 o 



CO 

 Ol 



c 



TJ 

 C 

 CO 



1970 



1975 



1980 



1985 



1990 



