The number of tuna purse seine fishing vessels has decreased globally, but the catch has increased instead of decreased

The size of tuna purse seine fishing vessels has been decreasing, but their catch has been increasing, posing new challenges for the sustainable development of global tuna fisheries. The total fishing capacity has increased, driven by new technologies and vessel upgrades. Indonesian-flagged fishing vessels are leading this growth. Despite a decrease in the number of large purse seine fishing vessels, their performance improvement has offset the decrease, leading to high global tuna catches. However, balancing resource protection and economic interests is a challenge, with some regional fishery management organizations struggling to manage fishing intensity and tuna population recovery. The future of tuna fisheries will depend on the balance between fishing and protection, technology advancements, and fishery management measures.

In recent years, the size of tuna purse seine fishing vessels has been shrinking, but surprisingly, the catch of tuna has been steadily increasing. According to the latest data from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), although the number of large tuna purse seine fishing vessels has slightly decreased, the fishing capacity has increased instead of decreased. This phenomenon has posed new challenges to the sustainable development of global tuna fisheries. The total amount of tuna caught in the world each year is as high as 5.2 million tons, of which purse seine fishing vessels undertake about 66% of the fishing tasks. ISSF defines fishing vessels with a fish tank volume of more than 335 cubic meters as large purse seine fishing vessels, which mainly catch skipjack, yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna in tropical waters. Although the number of such vessels has decreased from 652 last year to 650 this year, their total fishing capacity has increased from 841,000 ...