South Pacific albacore quotas, bigeye management reforms, and deep-sea mining developments near American Samoa are expected to take center stage at the 207th Western Pacific Council’s latest...
Tuna Fishing News
MIFCO Raises Skipjack Purchase Price To Match Private Buyers
Maldives state-owned fisheries company Mifco said it has raised the price paid for pole-and-line caught skipjack, bringing its procurement rate from fishers closer to levels offered by private...
IATTC Scientific Meeting To Discuss Bigeye Stock & Harvest Strategies
The IATTC Scientific Advisory Committee meeting began today and will run until June 12. Discussions over the 2025 EPO tuna fishery, updates to the stock assessment of bigeye, harvest...
Massive Fire Chars Dozens Of Boats In Manta Port
At least 35 boats, both tuna longliners and other artisanal vessels, that were moored in Ecuador’s Manta port were destroyed in a fire that broke out on Saturday. Authorities have begun an...
OPAGAC Rolls Out EPO DFAD Recovery Program
The Spanish purse seine fleet, grouped under OPAGAC and other tuna industry associations, recently announced a collaboration to launch an Ocean FAD Recovery Foundation. The groups claim it is...
Sustainable Oceans Key To The Future Experts Say
Working on sustainability for healthy oceans forms the crux of this year’s World Oceans Day, celebrated on June 8. This year’s theme, according to the UN, is ‘Reimagine: Beyond the world we...
DFAD Retrieval Remains At Dismal Levels In EPO
In the EPO, fleets have increasingly deployed drifting FADs compared to retrieving them over the years, despite several initiatives to retrieve these devices. Furthermore, thousands of these...
US Bill Intends To Curb Presidential Power Over Monument Fishing
The US Congress is considering a legislation that would bar presidents from unilaterally banning commercial fishing in marine protected areas (MPAs), requiring such activities to be managed...
Philippine Tuna Catches Sink To Three-Year Low
Catches by Philippines-flagged vessels fell to a three-year low in the first quarter of 2026, driven by a sharp decline in both skipjack and yellowfin landings. Data from the Philippine...
Global Voices Call For Tougher Action Against IUU Fishing
Stricter enforcement and tougher penalties for offenders are among the key demands marking the International Day for the Fight Against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing,...
EPO Purse Seine Fishery’s FAD Sets Rise
The EPO tropical tuna fishery is one of the largest in the world and a majority of purse seine operations utilize drifting FADs. The IATTC FAD working group meeting began on June 3 and will...
US To Descope Critical Climate Deep Ocean Sensors Amid El Niño
The US will soon be removing a vast system of deep-ocean sensors in the Pacific Ocean, raising alarm in the country’s scientific community. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) announced...
Leading FAD Buoy Producers Start Sustainable Echosounder Buoy Stewardship
Marine Instruments, Satlink, and Zunibal recently signed a deal which they claimed is a “major step towards more responsible and collaborative dFAD management in tropical tuna fisheries.”...
Will Super El Niño Affect EPO Tuna Skipjack Catches?
Scientists are saying that this year the world will experience a super El Niño with higher than expected temperatures on land and sea. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a...
Poll: Should Tuna Loins Be Removed From EU Tariff Quotas?
The EU has entered into several free trade deals, the recent one with Mexico that includes pre-cooked loins. Negotiations are also taking place with Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines,...
FFA Highlights Key Lessons From 20 Years Of Tuna Fisheries Management
A newly released report charts the transformation of the Pacific tuna industry over the past two decades, highlighting how science-based management measures have strengthened the region's...
Pacifical CTO Urges Tuna Industry To Advance Traceability
The European Tuna Conference 2026 (ETC26) that concluded in April highlighted creating value through intelligent data exchange in the tuna industry. Julian Hanssen, Chief Technology Officer of...
Seychelles’ Shrinking Fleet Size Reflected in Lower Catches
The catches of Seychelles-flagged purse seiners and longliners for commercial tuna species fell in 2024. The number of vessels in the purse-seine fleet remained unchanged from 2023, while...
Readers: EPO Canners Should Return To Normal Capacity
Weak skipjack landings in the EPO since the start of the year are emerging as a concern for canners, even as fishing volumes have returned to more typical levels following the unusually strong...
IATTC Scientists To Review Movement of 100,000 FADs & Tuna Stock Health
IATTC scientists and experts will be gathering at the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting next week to discuss critical data about tuna stocks. There are also several other pre-events...