Below is a compendium of important information regarding Atlantic bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore tuna. It is intended for anyone wishing to delve more deeply into the regulatory and scientific aspects of our fisheries. The first section below are links to important U.S. and Canadian Government documents, comprehensive biological descriptions of each species as found in the ICCAT Manual and links to the latest ICCAT stock assessments for our species. The last three sections below are links to important scientific research documents on our species.
NOAA Fisheries
Endangered Species Act “Status Review Report of Atlantic bluefin tuna”, NOAA, May 2011
Final Rule: Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan, Federal Register (2014)
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plans and Amendment
Annual Stock Assessment and Fisheries Evaluation (SAFE) Report
Fishwatch (in our opinion, the best and most up-to-date online resource for consumers)
ICCAT Manual
Description of Atlantic bluefin tuna, J-M Fromentin, ICCAT (2006)
Description of Atlantic bigeye tuna, Ieo, ICCAT (2006)
Description of Atlantic yellowfin tuna, Ieo, ICCAT (2006)
Description of Atlantic albacore tuna, Azti, ICCAT (2004)
ICCAT - Stock Assessments
Stock assessment: Atlantic bluefin tuna, Executive Summary, SCRS, P. 111-114 (2017)
Stock assessment: North and south Atlantic albacore tuna, Executive Summary, SCRS (2016)
Stock assessment Atlantic yellowfin tuna, Executive Summary, SCRS (2016)
Stock assessment Atlantic bigeye tuna, Executive Summary, SCRS (2015)
Canada DFO – Atlantic bluefin tuna:
Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Recovery Potential Assessment Science Peer Review, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (2011)
Recovery potential assessment for western Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in Canadian Waters, Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (2011)
Bluefin tuna (Thunnus Thynnus) in Atlantic Canadian waters: biology, status, recovery potential and measures for mitigation, Maguire, Lester, Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (2012)
Scientific Research: Atlantic bluefin tuna
Migratory Movements, Depth Preferences, and Thermal Biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Block, Dewar, Blackwell, Williams, Prince, Farwell, Boustany, Teo, Seitz, Walli, Fudge (2001)
Inter-laboratory comparison of Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna otolith microconstituents, Secor, Campana, Zdanowicz, Lam, Yang, Rooker (2002)
Identification of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) stocks from putative nurseries using otolith chemistry, Rooker, Secor, Zdanowicz, Metrio, Relini (2003)
Movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) as determined by satellite tagging experiments initiated off New England, Stokesbury, Teo, Seitz, O’Dor, Block (2004)
Stock structure and mixing of Atlantic bluefin tuna: evidence from stable isotopes in otoliths, Rooker, Secor (2004) SCRS/ICCAT
Atlantic bluefin tuna: population dynamics, ecology, fisheries and management, Fromentin, Powers (2005)
Electronic tagging and population structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Block, Teo, Walli, Boustany, Stokesbury, Farwell, Weng, Dewar, Williams (2005)
Movements of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean recorded by pop-up satellite archival tags, Wilson, Lutcavage, Brill, Genovese, Cooper, Everly (2005)
Genetic heterogeneity of Atlantic bluefin tuna caught in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean south of Ireland, Carlsson, McDowell, Carlsson, Olafsdottir, Graves (2006)
Genetic Identity of YOY Bluefin Tuna from the Eastern and Western Atlantic Spawning Areas, Carlsson, McDowell, Carlsson, Graves (2006)
Life History and Stock Structure of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), Rooker, Bremer, Block, Dewar, De Metrio, Corriero, Kraus, Prince, Rodriguez-Marin, Secor (2007)
Oceanographic preferences of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, on their Gulf of Mexico breeding grounds, Teo, Boustany, Block (2007)
Annual migrations, diving behavior and thermal biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, on their Gulf of Mexico breeding grounds, Teo, Boustany, Dewar, Stokesbury, Weng, Beemer, Seitz, Farwell, Prince, Block (2007)
Natal Homing and Connectivity in Atlantic bluefin tuna Populations, Rooker, Secor, DeMetrio, Schloesser, Block, Nielson (2008)
Discussion of the alternative explanations for the relatively low U.S. Catches of bluefin tuna since 2004, McAllister, Nielson, Porch (2008) SCRS/ICCAT
Evidence of trans-Atlantic movement and natal homing of bluefin tuna from stable isotopes in otoliths, Rooker, Secor, DeMetrio, Kaufman, Rios, Ticina (2008)
Seasonal Movement, Aggregations and Diving Behavior of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Revealed with Archival Tags, Walli, Teo, Farwell, Williams, Dewar, Prince, Block (2009)
Comparative Influence of Ocean Conditions on Yellowfin and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Catch from Longlines in the Gulf of Mexico, Teo and Block (2010)
Updated estimate of the growth curve of Western Atlantic bluefin tuna, Restrepo, Diaz, Walter, Nielson, Campana, Secor, Wingate (2010)
Estimating mortality of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in an experimental recreational catch-and-release fishery, Stokesbury, Nielson, Susko, Cooke (2011)
Atlantic bluefin tuna: A novel Multistock Spatial Model for Assessing Population Biomass, Taylor, McAllister, Lawson, Carruthers, Block (2011)
Circle hooks in commercial, recreational, and artisanal fisheries: Research status and needs for improved conservation and management, Serafy, Cooke, Diaz, Graves, Hall, Shivji, Swimmer (2012)
Scientific examination of western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock-recruit relationships, Rosenberg, Cooper, Maunder, McAllister, Methot, Miller, Porch, Powers, Quinn, Restrepo, Scott, Seijo, Stefansson, Walter (2012) SCRS/ICCAT
Using Bayes Factors to Evaluate the Credibility of Stock Recruitment Relationships for Western Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, McAllister (2012) SCRS/ICCAT
Dispersal routes and habitat utilization of juvenile Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, tracked with mini PSAT and archival tags, Galuardi and Lutcavage (2012)
Changes in the Distribution of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Gulf of Maine 1979-2005, Golet, Lutcavage, Galuardi, Cooper (2013)
Comparative Assessment of the Reproductive Status of Female Atlantic Bluefin Tuna from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, Knapp, Aranda, Medina, Lutcavage (2014)
Contribution of Gulf of Mexico population to U.S. Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries, 2010-2011, Secor, Barnett, Allman, Rooker (2014) SCRS/ICCAT
Scientific Research: Atlantic bigeye tuna
Effect of Oceanographic Environment on Bigeye Tuna Distribution, Hanamoto (1987)
Standardized abundance index of Taiwanese longline fishery for bigeye tuna in the Atlantic, Hsu (1999) SCRS/ICCAT
Blood oxygen-binding characteristics of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) , a high-energy-demand teleost that is tolerant of low ambient oxygen, Lowe, Brill, Cousins (2000)
Observed changes in the species composition of tuna schools in the Gulf of Guinea between 1981 and 1999, in relation with the Fish Aggregating Device fishery, Fonteneau, Ariz, Gaertner, Nordstrom, Pallares (2000)
Movement and vulnerability of bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in relation to FADs and natural aggregation points, Itano, Holland (2000)
Preliminary report on the maturity and spawning of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the central Atlantic Ocean, Matsumoto, Miyabe (2001) SCRS/ICCAT
Horizontal movements of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) near Hawaii determined by Kalman filter analysis of archival tagging data, Sibert, Musyl, Brill (2003)
Vertical movements of bigeye tuna (Tyunnus obesus) associated with islands, buoys, and seamounts near the main Hawaiian Islands from archival tagging data, Musyl, Brill, Boggs, Curran, Kazama, Seki (2003)
Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) behavior and physiology and their relevance to stock assessments and fishery biology, Brill, Bigelow, Musyl, Fritsches, Warrant (2004) SCRS/ICCAT
Growth of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from tagging-recapture data and otolith readings, Hallier, Stequert, Maury, Bard (2005) SCRS/ICCAT
Swimming behavior of adult bigeye tuna using pop-up tags in the central Atlantic Ocean, Matsumoto, Saito, Miyabe (2005) SCRS/ICCAT
BIgeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) vertical movements in the Azores Islands determined with pop-up satellite archival tags, Lutcavage, Arregi, Artetxe, Goni, (2008)
Scientific Research: Atlantic yellowfin tuna
The food of skipjack and yellowfin tunas in the Atlantic Ocean, Dragovich (1970) NOAA
Length-weight relationships for western north Atlantic yellowfin tuna, Davis (1991) SCRS/ICCAT
The U.S. longline fishery for yellowfin tuna in perspective, Browder, Brown, Parrack (1991) SCRS/ICCAT
Modeling a single Atlantic yellowfin stock with a mixing model, Fonteneau (1992) SCRS/ICCAT
On the study of spawning frequency for bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) based on the Atlantic longline fishery data, Batalyants (1992) SCRS/ICCAT
Standardization of CPUE for yellowfin tuna caught by Taiwanese longline fishery in the Atlantic, Ma, Hsul (1996) SCRS/ICCAT
Estimating abundance, fishing mortality and migration rates by area, using the spatial VPA methodology, application to Yellowfin tuna in eastern and western Atlantic, Maury, Gascuel, Fonteneau (1998) SCRS/ICCAT
Exploitation of small tunas by a purse-seine fishery with fish aggregating devlces and their feeding ecology in an eastern tropical Atlantic ecosystem, Menard, Fonteneau, Gaertner, Nordstrom, Stequert, Marchal (2000)
Food consumption of tuna in the Equatorial Atlantic ocean: FAD-associated versus unassociated schools, Menard, Stequert, Rubin, Herrera, Marchal (2000)
Length conversions for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) caught in the western north Atlantic Ocean, Scida, Rainosek, Lowery (2001) SCRS/ICCAT
Update information on the spawning of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in the western central Atlantic, Arocha, lee, Marcano, Marcano (2001) SCRS/ICCAT
Spatial Modeling of Atlantic yellowfin tuna population dynamics; application of a habitat based advection-diffusion-reaction model to the study of local overfishing, Maury, Gascuel, Fonteneau (2001)
Schools of large yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) concentrated by foraging on a mospecific layer of Cubiceps pauciradiatus, observed in the eastern tropical Atlantic, Bard, Kouame, Herve (2002) SCRS/ICCAT
Time trends in abundance and catchability of yellowfin tuna and their relationship to the north Atlantic oscillation index, Die, Kel, Pallares (2002) SCRS/ICCAT
Total mercury levels in tunas from offshore waters of the Florida Atlantic coast, Adams (2004)
Consequences of the historical demography on the global population structure of two highly migratory cosmopolitan marine fishes: the yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and the skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), Ely, Vinas, Bremer, Black, Lucas, Covello, Labrie, Thelen (2005)
Age and growth of yellowfin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean, Shuford, Dean, Stequert, Morize (2006) SCRS/ICCAT
Comparative Influence of Ocean Conditions on Yellowfin and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Catch from Longlines in the Gulf of Mexico, Teo, Block (2010)
