Graph of the Day: Capture Fisheries Production in the Atlantic Ocean, 1970-2008

Note: NEI = not elsewhere included. Global production of marine capture fisheries reached a peak of 86.3 million tonnes in 1996 and then declined slightly to 79.5 million tonnes in 2008, with great interyear fluctuations. In 2008, the Northwest Pacific had the highest production of 20.1 million tonnes (25 percent of the global marine catch), followed by the Southeast Pacific, with a total catch of 11.8 million tonnes (15 percent), the Western Central Pacific with 11.1 million tonnes (14 percent) and the Northeast Atlantic, with 8.5 million tonnes (11 percent). Most of the stocks of the top ten species, which account in total for about 30 percent of the world marine capture fisheries production in terms of quantity (Figure 6), are fully exploited and, therefore, have no potential for increased production, while some stocks are overexploited and increases in their production could only be possible with effective rebuilding plans in place. The two main stocks of anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) in the Southeast Pacific and those of Alaska pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) in the North Pacific and blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) in the Atlantic are fully exploited. Several Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) stocks are fully exploited, but some are depleted. Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) in the Northwest Pacific and Chilean jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) in the Southeast Pacific are considered to be fully exploited. Some limited possibilities for expansion may exist for a few stocks of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus), which are moderately exploited in the Eastern Pacific, while the stock in the Northwest Pacific was estimated to be recovering. In 2008, the largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) was estimated to be overexploited in the main fishing area in the
Northwest Pacific. The total catch of tuna and tuna-like species was about 6.3 million tonnes in 2008. The principal market tuna species – albacore, bigeye, bluefin (three species), skipjack and yellowfin – contributed 4.2 million tonnes, a decline of about 0.2 million tonnes from the peak in 2005. About 70 percent of that catch was taken from the Pacific. The skipjack was the most productive tropical market tuna (contributing about 57 percent to the 2008 catch of principal tunas) and yellowfin and bigeye were the other productive tropical species (contributing about 27 and 10 percent, respectively). Of the 23 tuna stocks, most are more or less fully exploited (possibly up to 60 percent), some are overexploited or depleted (possibly up to 35 percent) and only a few appear to be underexploited (mainly skipjack). However, an increase in skipjack catches is not desirable at present as it may negatively affect bigeye and yellowfin tunas. Only for very few stocks of principal tunas is their status unknown or very poorly known. In the long term, because of the substantial demand for tuna and the significant overcapacity of tuna fishing fleets, the status (and consequently catches) of tuna stocks may deteriorate further if there is no improvement in their management. The concern about the poor status of some bluefin stocks and the difficulties facing many tuna management organizations in managing these stocks effectively led to a proposal by Monaco in 2010 to ban the international trade of Atlantic bluefin under the CITES. Although it was hardly in dispute that the stock status of this high-value food fish met the biological criteria for listing on CITES Appendix I, the proposal was ultimately rejected. Many parties that opposed the listing stated that in their view the ICCAT was the appropriate body for the management of such an important commercially exploited aquatic species.

The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2010 [pdf], FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, Rome, 2010