-55- 



STATUS REPORT: ATLANTIC SKIPJACK TUNA 



by 



Richard H. Evans and Norman Bartoo 



Southwest Fisheries Center 



Oceanic Fisheries Resources Division 



La Jon a, Cal ifornia 



ABSTRACT 



Eastern Atlantic skipjack tuna stocks are currently fished at a high 

 level (100,000 mt in 1980) while western Atlantic stocks are fished at a 

 low level (9,000 mt in 1980). CPUE indices for both the French-Ivory 

 Coast-Senegal-Morrocan and Tema-based fleets, which are quite different and 

 show no clear trend over time, are not considered to be adequate estimators 

 of abundance. Available evidence indicates that neither western or eastern 

 Atlantic skipjack stocks are overfished at this time, and both stocks may 

 effectively support increased fishing effort. This seems especially true 

 for the western Atlantic, where a developing fishery off Brazil accounted 

 for 80 percent of the western Atlantic catch in 1980. 



