The heartwarming rescue story of a 51-year-old Australian man, Timothy Shaddock, and a stray dog Bella who was with him at sea continues to circulate on social media. Timothy and...
Fishing
IOTC Allots Higher Yellowfin Catch Limits For Seychelles And China
The yellowfin catch limits for 2023 have been re-estimated after the 27th Session of the IOTC meeting held on July 26. China and Seychelles were allocated an additional 377 M/T and 1,145...
Fishermen In South Indian State Strike Against Illegal Seiner Nets
A group of fishermen from 21 coastal hamlets in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India are urging the regional government to curb the illegal use of purse seiner nets in its territorial...
Small-Scale Philippines Fishers Pin High Hopes On New FADs
A group of small-scale fishermen in the Philippines Northern Samar region hope to boost their tuna production with new deep-sea tuna fishing nets and FAD sets from the Bureau of Fisheries and...
Global Transshipment Operations Mainly Carried Out By Panama & Taiwan Carriers
Global tuna commissions have strict rules regarding at-sea transshipments but they differ between the RFMOs. A new study says that carriers flagged to a small group of countries are carrying...
Grupomar’s ‘Maria Delia’ Sold After Heroic Rescue
Grupomar announced the sale of its Mexican-flagged seiner ‘Maria Delia’. The vessel has been in the news lately for the heroic rescue in July of Australian shipwrecked sailor Timothy Shaddock...
US Longliner Migrant Crew Keep Fingers Crossed For Visa Permit
Crew members of US-flagged tuna longliners are denied visas to enter the US though they are allowed to work in its fleet. This system has raised the ire of several vessel operators and human...
AGAC Joins Hands With SIOTI To Collect Lost FADs In Seychelles
On Monday, the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), the Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative (SIOTI) and the Spanish Association of Tuna Freezers (AGAC) signed a deal to manage drifting...
Major Global Highlights July
July was full of interesting and worrisome news for the global tuna sector. From skipjack supply issues across the globe to Ecuadorian tuna fishery to TUNACONS receiving skipjack MSC...
EU-India To Strengthen Ties In Fisheries Sector
India and the EU have agreed to “engage bilaterally” on several matters in the fisheries sector including tuna. The deal was struck at a recent meeting between the European Commissioner for...
EU Presidency Creates Opportunities For Spanish Tuna Agenda
The EU tuna industry has pointed out many times the disconnect it feels with the EU Brussels administration. The Spanish especially have been vocal about the latest rules and regulations that...
2022 WCPO Yellowfin Seiner Catches Declined By 12%
Overall catches of yellowfin in the world’s largest tuna fishing ground dipped in 2022 driven by a large decline in purse-seine volumes. Last year, the total catches of Thunnus albacares from...
WCPO 2022 Seiner Skipjack Catches Fifth-Highest On Record
Tuna catches in the WCPO comprised 54 percent of the global volume in 2022. Purse seine-caught skipjack was the fifth-highest on record but the vessels netted more smaller-sized fish than in...
Fisheries Veteran Bashes Claims Of Cook Islands Fishers
Public-service radio broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ), published the article ‘It's been a 'low' low season for Rarotonga fishermen’ on July 25. The small-scale fishers from Cook Islands...
American Samoa EEZ Longline Fishery Is MSC Certified Again
The American Samoa EEZ longline fishery can continue holding on to its MSC logo for its albacore, yellowfin, skipjack, and bigeye catches in the WCPO. The assessment body, Control Union UK,...
Sharp Rise In June WCPO Transshipments, No Guarantee Of Better Supply In BKK
Harbors in the WCPO saw a sharp rise in transshipped tuna frozen whole round volumes in June after months of very low activity. Last month, 60,541 tons of tuna were discharged into carriers in...
Excellent Haul Of Large Yellowfin Puts An End To WCPO Fishing Slump After Months
After months of poor catches in the WCPO, purse seiners operating in this region managed to net a lot more tuna in June compared to May. This sharp rise in catches was driven by higher volumes...
Cook Islands Small-Scale Tuna Fishers Accuse Govt Of Turning Its Back On Them
Small-scale fishermen in Cook Islands are having a rough time. According to them, foreign tuna vessels fishing in the country's waters, low fuel subsidies, climate change, and even El Niño...
How Much Effort Creep Is There Among WCPO Seiners?
The increase in the efficiency and fishing capacity of tuna vessels is popularly known as “effort creep” but this is a very simple definition. Researchers say this phenomenon is difficult to...
EPO Seiners Caught 15% More Yellowfin In 2022
In 2022, EPO purse seiners caught the third-highest level of yellowfin in two decades. Nearly all fleets increased their volumes year on year, especially Mexico largely with dolphin sets....