The percentage of global commercial tuna catch coming from healthy stocks has increased to 88%, up two percentage points from March, according to the latest update from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).

The November 2024 Status of the Stocks report found that overfished stocks account for 10% of the total catch, while stocks at intermediate levels decreased to 2% from 4% in March. 

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Eastern Pacific Ocean bigeye and Pacific Ocean bluefin showed notable improvements in their sustainability ratings, with both stocks' exploitation rate improving from yellow to green on the ISSF's traffic light system. Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean albacore also saw an improvement, though researchers noted high uncertainty about its status due to poor monitoring.

"We're seeing positive developments in stock management," said ISSF in its report, citing new measures adopted by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission for skipjack tuna management and improved regulations on the use of fish aggregating devices.

However, Indian Ocean bigeye and yellowfin stocks remain overfished and subject to overfishing, while Pacific Ocean bluefin continues to be classified as overfished, unchanged from the March assessment.

The report, which analyzes 23 major commercial tuna stocks worldwide, revealed that total catch reached 5.2 million metric tons in 2022, a 2% increase from the previous year. Skipjack dominated the catch at 57%, followed by yellowfin at 30%, bigeye at 7%, and albacore at 5%. Bluefin tuna accounted for 1% of global catch.

The Western Pacific Ocean led in catch volume for both skipjack and yellowfin tuna, followed by Indian Ocean skipjack and yellowfin. Eastern Pacific Ocean skipjack rounded out the top five catches by stock, replacing Eastern Pacific yellowfin from the March report.

Purse seining remains the dominant fishing method, accounting for 66% of the global catch, with longline and pole-and-line operations contributing 9% and 8% respectively. Gillnets account for 3% of the catch, with miscellaneous gear types making up the remaining 14%.

The report shows 65% of stocks are at healthy abundance levels, up four percentage points since March, while 87% are not experiencing overfishing, a nine-percentage-point improvement.