Population of Pacific bluefin tuna increased with decreased catches over last 50 years

Introduction: Overfishing has critically endangered the Pacific bluefin tuna’s population. Therefore, further research and analysis regarding current fishing practice impacts will be critical in conserving and rebuilding the population of bluefin tuna. Objectives: The primary objective of this project is to is to compare the annual catch volume of the Pacific bluefin tuna of the five leading nations for fishing Pacific Bluefin tuna (Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States) within the last 50 years. In addition, the annual catch volume will also be compared with the annual stock assessment (or population) of the Pacific bluefin tuna within the last 50 years. Methods: Using Tableau Desktop Public (version 2020.3.3), this project will create a line chart representing the trends of each countries’ annual landing of the Pacific bluefin tuna over the last 50 years. Each countries’ annual landing of the Pacific bluefin tuna will be then aggregated and compared to the annual population of the Pacific bluefin tuna over the last 50 years. Data for each countries’ annual landing and the population of the Pacific bluefin tuna were taken from the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean. Results: Each nation’s overall catch volume has decreased significantly in the last 50 years, but Japan has the highest catch volume out of all nations. Total biomass volume and spawning stock biomass volume of the Pacific bluefin tuna has increased since 2010 but remains significantly below the volume from 50 years ago. Catch volume appears to negatively correlate with the total and spawning biomass volume of the Pacific bluefin tuna. Conclusions: Significant decrease in catch volume, especially since 2010, has led to an increase in total and spawning biomass, but the growths are not significant enough compared to the Pacific bluefin tuna’s population 50 years ago and conservation efforts should continue.