The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of recent studies on South Pacific albacore
and highlight the key issues for PICTs to consider in the management of their domestic longline
fisheries. The current (2005) stock assessment for South Pacific albacore concluded that there are
no sustainability concerns regarding the overall stock and substantially higher yields could be
taken from the fishery [...]

No 36: A summary of current information on the biology, fisheries and stock assessement of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the Pacific ocean, with recommendations for data requirements and future research (John Hampton, Keith Bigelow and Marc Labelle) (PDF - 1,454k)

Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) are an important component of tuna fisheries throughout the Pacific Ocean. They are the principal target species of the large ‘distant-water’ longliners from Japan and Korea and of the smaller ‘fresh sashimi’ longliners based in several Pacific Island countries. Bigeye tuna are fundamental to the economic survival of the longline fishery in the western and central Pacific Ocean [...]

No 34: By-catch and Discards in Western Pacific Tuna Fisheries : a review of SPC data holdings and literature (PDF - 2,640k)

The western and central Pacific Ocean (WPO) currently supports the largest industrial tuna fishery in the world, with total annual catches from 1991 to 1994 of approximately 1,000,000 mt. The three gear types accounting for most of the catch in the area are longline, purse seine and pole-and-line. Large-mesh drift-net, handline and trolling gear have been utilised in some areas, but not to the extent of the above-mentioned gear types. The primary target species are skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore [...]