As usual, the SPC science crew and the FFA economics crew present their “Overview of Tuna Fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, including Economic Conditions – 2023 Report” to the WCPFC plenary at this time of year.
This scenario is not too different from last year’s one, with the trend to maintain…. only when you take a “decade view” can you see the more significant picture.
As usual, this made me wonder further about the value of eco-labels… While the four tuna stocks stay in the green, some bycatch is in the doldrums. Remember that principle 2 of MSC concerns ecosystem considerations, including bycatch… I don’t think there is any PS tuna fishery that is not certified in the region, even if five years ago, it was only for “free schools” yet now includes FAD sets… which can negatively impact bycatch.
In any case, it is always a good and transparent read to present the status of the biggest fishery in the world.
The updates for fisheries catch and effort data for 2023 showed no major changes compared to 2022. In terms of the overall catch of tuna, the 2023 catch of approximately 2.62 million metric tonnes (mt) was slightly lower than for 2022. Catches have been similar for the past 4 years, declining by around 10% since the historical peak in 2019. The purse seine (PS) fishery remains the dominant gear, accounting for 70% of the total tuna catch, followed by the combined ‘Other’ category (17%), which includes various gear types and the handline fisheries from Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia. Skipjack remains the dominant species (approx. 1,636 million mt), accounting for 62% of the total catch, followed by yellowfin 28% (approx. 746,000 mt), bigeye 6% (approx. 146,000 mt) and albacore 4% (96,000 mt), with approximately double the amount of albacore caught south of the equator compared to north of the equator in the WCPFC-CA.
Effort in the purse seine fishery in 2023 was 47,623 days, only slightly higher than 2022. The number of sets has decreased by around 20% since 2010. Purse seine catch in weight is dominated by skipjack, followed by yellowfin, then bigeye, with a negligible catch of albacore. While the total purse catch has been stable over the last four years, the 2023 catch of 1.837 million mt was 13% below the historical peak in 2019.
Effort in the longline fishery in 2023 was 602 million hooks, slightly lower than 2022, and has decreased by around 22% since the historic peak in 2012. The decline in hooks per year is consistent with the decline in catch per year of about 18% since 2010. Longline catch in weight is dominated by yellowfin, then albacore, then bigeye, with a minor skipjack catch. Longline catches in the last two years (228,000 mt in 2023) have increased slightly despite a continued decline in total effort. This increase appears entirely due to increased catches of albacore, primarily south of the equator.
Pole and line effort has continued to decline, although some flattening in the rate of decline is seen in the last decade. Japanese vessels are the largest component of the fleet, followed by domestic Pacific Island vessels.
Based on their most recent assessments (skipjack 2022, bigeye and yellowfin 2023, south Pacific albacore 2024), stocks of all four tuna are estimated to be close to their respective target objectives for biomass depletion and not overfished or undergoing overfishing. The next tuna assessment will be skipjack in 2025.
Southwest Pacific swordfish was assessed in 2021 and was classified as not overfished and not undergoing overfishing. Southwest Pacific striped marlin was assessed in 2024; however, the assessment was not accepted for management advice at SC20. The assessment will undergo more technical work and be presented to SC21 in 2025. Management advice remains as per 2019 that the stock is likely overfished and close to undergoing overfishing.
For the key sharks, the most recent assessment was for silky sharks in the WCPO in 2024, which concluded that the stock was unlikely to be overfished but that stock biomass, while displaying a recovering trend, was uncertain. The conclusion that this stock is now unlikely to be undergoing overfishing is an improvement from the previous assessment that concluded that the stock was likely being overfished. For the other sharks assessed by the SSP, the southwest Pacific blue shark was assessed in 2022 as unlikely overfished and unlikely to be undergoing overfishing, and the southwest Pacific mako shark has uncertain stock status after the inconclusive first assessment attempt in 2021. The Oceanic whitetip shark in the WCPO will be assessed in 2025; based on the 2019 assessment, it remains considered as overfished and subject to overfishing.
The 2023 South Pacific troll albacore catch (1,192 mt) was the second lowest catch level since 1980 (744 mt were reported in 1983), largely owing to a contraction in NZ’s troll fleet operating in the region. The New Zealand troll fleet (94 vessels catching 864 mt in 2023) and the United States troll fleet (10 vessels catching 328 mt in 2023) accounted for all of the 2023 albacore troll catch, although minor contributions also came from the Canadian, the Cook Islands and French Polynesian fleets when their fleets are active in this fishery.
In 2023, market prices for purse seine-caught products increased. Thai imports averaged $1,773/mt, marking an 8% increase from 2022, while Yaizu prices increased by 12% to $1,923/mt.
Conversely, prices for longline-caught yellowfin decreased across all markets. In Yaizu, prices fell by 28% to $5.07/kg. Prices for fresh and frozen yellowfin from selected ports decreased by 17% to $7.33/kg and 26% to $5.60/kg, respectively. The price from Oceania also declined by 5% to $8.51/kg, partly due to the appreciation of the US dollar against the Japanese yen.
Prices for longline-caught bigeye also declined across most markets except Oceania. In Japan, average prices from selected ports for fresh bigeye fell by 7% to $12.29/kg, and frozen bigeye decreased by 25% to $7.11/kg. However, the price for fresh imports from Oceania increased by 8% to $14.11/kg. In the U.S, fresh bigeye import prices rose by 4% to a record high of $12.03/kg in 2022, before slightly declining by 4% to $11.19/kg in 2023. Thai import prices for albacore decreased by 10% to $3.19/kg in 2023. Similarly, US fresh prices declined by 5% to $5.63/kg, and Japanese selected ports fresh prices fell by 20% to $3.24/kg.
In 2023, the total estimated delivered value of the tuna catch in the WCPFC-CA increased marginally by 4% to $6.1 billion. The purse seine fishery, valued at $3.5 billion, saw a 7% rise from 2022, representing 56% of the total value. In contrast, the longline fishery’s value decreased slightly by 1% to $1.6 billion, while the pole and line catch value dropped by 11% to $312 million, attributed to reduced catches and a decline in the Yaizu price for pole-and-line-caught skipjack. Conversely, the value of catches from other gears increased by 11%, reaching $820 million.
In 2023, the WCPFC-CA skipjack catch was valued at $3 billion, a marginal 2% increase from the previous year, and accounted for nearly half of the total tuna catch value. The value of the albacore tuna catch decreased by 9% to $304 million, while the values for yellowfin and bigeye catches increased to $2.1 billion (+10%) and $784 million (+4%), respectively.
In 2023, economic conditions across purse seine, tropical longline, and southern longline fisheries in the WCPFC-CA improved compared with 2022. The tropical purse seine index improved, remaining above average at 109, driven by rising fish prices and declining fuel costs. From 2018 to 2020, this index stayed considerably above its 20-year average, primarily due to high catch rates. In 2022, the index dropped to 98, its lowest level since 2014. However, it rebounded in 2023, driven by an increase in fish prices, declining fuel costs and higher catch rates.
For the southern longline fishery, 2023 saw a positive trend, with the index approaching its 20-year average, supported by higher catch rates and lower fuel prices. Similarly, the economic conditions for the tropical longline fishery improved, nearing the 20-year average, driven by increased catch rates and decreased fuel prices.