Yellowfin tuna and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

13 October 2020

One and a half million metric tons of yellowfin tuna were caught worldwide in 2018, with a dock value of US$4.4 billion and an end value of almost US$16 billion. The Indian Ocean accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the world’s yellowfin tuna catch. Sold in cans, as steaks or raw as high-value sashimi, yellowfin tuna is one of three species of tropical tuna under the management of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). The Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stock has been overfished and subject to continued overfishing for more than five years and, as a result, is now at risk of collapse.

Blue Investigations

Marine Life

Overfishing

Failure to Manage Yellowfin Tuna by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

Failure to Manage Yellowfin Tuna by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

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In June 2019, Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) published a report titled A case study on the management of yellowfin tuna by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission which showcased the plight of Indian Ocean yellowfin and called on the IOTC and its member states to implement a 25 per cent catch reduction as a matter of urgency.

Eighteen months later, the outlook is still bleak for the large, “near threatened” species, with the IOTC’s rebuilding plan failing to enforce the kind of reductions needed to prevent the yellowfin stock from collapsing which, scientists say, could happen as soon as 2026 if nothing is done to reduce the fishing pressure.

Several retailers have already committed to stop sourcing tuna from the Indian Ocean until the IOTC adopts an effective rebuilding plan for the stock.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the postponement of the annual IOTC Commission meeting until November 2020 and has forced the member states to meet virtually, rather than in person.

Because of this, it has been decided that no new conservation and management measures will be discussed at the meeting due to the limitations of virtual negotiations, allowing the current, ineffective plan to be rolled over for another year.

The downside of that decision is that the longer scientific advice remains un-implemented by IOTC members, the larger the cuts in catches will have to be when they come – if stock collapse does not intervene.

An emergency meeting to resolve the yellowfin issue by heads of delegations is desirable in the near future.

Often caught alongside skipjack and bigeye tuna by purse seine vessels fishing on fish aggregating devices (FADs), yellowfin tuna is not the only stock in trouble.

For the second year in a row, catches of Indian Ocean skipjack in 2019 were above the limit set by the stock’s harvest control rule – effectively making it unregulated.

Bigeye tuna was also found to be subject to overfishing in 2019.

The mismanagement of these globally important stocks by the IOTC member states is a threat not only to the stocks themselves, but to the many coastal communities that depend on them for food and income.

This report evaluates the attempts being made to save the Indian Ocean yellowfin stock, examines the role of FAD-associated purse seine fisheries in the capture of millions of juvenile yellowfin tuna, and investigates the misreporting, overfishing and lack of compliance with international safety regulations undertaken by the EU’s distant water purse seine fleet, the biggest harvester of tropical tuna in the Indian Ocean.