Thunnus obesus

The current bigeye assessment indicates the stock is not in an overfished state although current fishing mortality rates are approaching or exceeding the overfishing benchmark. The current level of exploitation appears not to be sustainable in the long term, unless the high recent recruitment is maintained in the future. Lower future recruitment is a possibility if the recruitment trends for bigeye in the EPOi are mirrored in the WCPOi. On this basis, the SCTB recommended that, as a minimum measure, there be no further increase in the fishing mortality rate for bigeye tuna from the recent level.

(Source "The Western and Central Pacific Tuna Fishery 2003" - SPCi)