Verifier of the maximum sustainable yield estimates of the southern Atlantic albacore, Thunnus alalunga, stock

Abstract

AbstractMaximum sustainable yield (MSY) has generally been accepted as one of the target biological reference points. Albacore, Thunnus alalunga Bonnaterre, is a temperate tuna species widely distributed in marine waters. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) had reported the southern Atlantic albacore stock status with different MSY reference points. In addition, the European Commission's Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA), on 15 September 2006, proposed to amend the Common Fisheries Policy according to the MSY principle, but there is little information on the verifier of the MSY estimates of this albacore stock. This study verifies the MSY estimates of this albacore (T. alalunga) stock to support the management (i.e. setting of MSY) for the southern Atlantic albacore (T. alalunga) stock. The MSY estimates of the albacore stock were evaluated and verified by different models (i.e. Bayesian surplus production model [BSPM], continuous time delay‐difference model [CD‐DM] and Fox surplus production model [SPM]). The MSY estimates from BSPM and CD‐DM were lower than those from conventional estimates; the relative biomass ratio (B2011/BMSY) and relative fishing mortality ratio (F2011/FMSY) from BSPM and CD‐DM were higher than those from ICCAT, which showed that measures should be taken for the sustainable utilisation of this fish stock.