This graphic, updated in January 2026, compares each tuna RFMO’s port state measure elements against the provisions in the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), identifying gaps between them and recommending priority areas for RFMO focus.
ISSF 2026-01: Status of the World Fisheries for Tuna. January 2026 summarizes and rates the status and management of 23 major commercial tuna stocks, based on the most recent scientific assessments as well as management measures adopted by the RFMOs.
Known as ISSF’s “Status of the Stocks” report, it uses a consistent methodology focused on three factors: Abundance, Exploitation/Management, and Environmental Impact (bycatch). It does not replace the more detailed information available directly from the RFMOs. But it does serve as a single source in which uniform information is presented. It is reviewed by the ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee, which provides advice on its content.
Status of the World Fisheries for Tuna features charts, graphs, and individual stock assessments, which are organized by ocean or by ocean region. The Management section in all stocks is organized into two sections: Harvest Strategy (divided in the different elements of a HS) and Management measures.
ISSF prepared this position statement for consideration at the 22nd regular session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which will take place December 1–5, 2025.
The statement covers topics in these categories: compliance processes; tuna stock conservation; fish aggregating device (FAD) management; electronic monitoring and reporting and observer coverage; transshipment regulation and port state measures; effective management procedures (harvest strategies); bycatch mitigation and shark protections; and capacity. The statement also includes ISSF’s top “asks” or requests of WCPFC.
The First International Workshop on the Recovery of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs, known locally in the eastern Pacific Ocean as “plantados”) was held May 8–10, 2024, at the Charles Darwin Foundation facilities in Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador. The workshop was organized by the Tuna Conservation Group (TUNACONS), the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), and WWF Ecuador. The objective of the workshop was to address the following question: How should a FAD Recovery Program (FRP) be designed to ensure its efficiency?
A total of 63 key stakeholders participated in the workshop, including fishers, vessel owners, manufacturers and satellite buoy service providers, fishing associations, governments, scientists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Participants shared their knowledge and experience working with FADs as well as insights into the design of FRPs. The workshop addressed the logistical, technical, and economic aspects necessary to ensure the efficiency of such programs. Finally, participants identified the steps required to design and implement a FAD recovery program, both within the Galápagos Marine Reserve and in other parts of the world.
This is a June 2025 version of a report ISSF has published since 2013.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has established a program whereby a fishery may be certified as being sustainable. The sustainability of a fishery is defined by MSC criteria that are embodied in three Principles: relating to the status of the stock, the ecosystem of which the stock is a member, and the fishery management system.
Since many of these MSC criteria are comparable for global tuna stocks, the MSC scoring system was used to evaluate 23 stocks of tropical and temperate tunas throughout the world and to evaluate the management systems of the Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) associated with these stocks. No evaluation has been made of the fishery specific ecosystem criteria in this report.
The principles that were assessed were:
Each of these Principles is evaluated in relation to Performance Indicators (PIs) within each Principle based on public information available by March 2025. The update includes changes in version 3.1 of the standard (MSC Fisheries Standard and Guidance v3.1 –22nd July 2024; http://www.msc.org/).
Related P1 and P3 infographics are available: Summary of Sustainable Tuna Stocks (MSC Principle 1) (2025) and RFMO Performance (MSC Principle 3) (2025).
Read a press release about the report.
This table, updated in May 2025, shows which Regional Fishery Management Organization(s) (RFMOs) are leaders — that is, following best practices in fishery management — in several categories: IUU Vessel List, Authorized Vessel Record, Compliance Assessment Process, EM and 100% Observer Coverage, Supply & Tender Vessels, VMS, Transshipment, and FAD Management.
See our related RFMO Best Practices Snapshots series.
The four tropical-tuna RFMOs — the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) — prohibit purse seiners, and other vessels under certain conditions, from transshipping at sea. But at-sea transshipment overall has increased in recent years.
This infographic, which shows trends in the RFMOs’ reported transshipments, appears in our Web feature, “At-Sea Transshipments in Tuna Fisheries: Why Oversight Is Essential for Sustainability.” The infographic was updated in May 2025.
See also the related RFMO Best Practices Snapshot — 2025: Transshipment Regulation.
In this infographic, updated in May 2025, ISSF benchmarks tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) requirements for observer coverage — including electronic monitoring (EM) — against best practices.
The infographic tracks priority areas for reform, indicating whether an RFMO has the priority reform in place, has a partial reform in place, or does not have a reform in place.
See the related RFMO Best Practices Snapshot — 2025: Observer Requirements.
In this infographic, updated in May 2025, ISSF benchmarks tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) requirements for compliance processes against best practices.
The infographic tracks priority areas for reform, indicating whether an RFMO has the priority reform in place, has a partial reform in place, or does not have a reform in place.
See the related RFMO Best Practices Snapshot — 2025: Compliance Processes.
ISSF has benchmarked the transshipment measures established by the four tropical-tuna RFMOs — the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) — to 10 best-practice recommendations.
Our infographic, updated in May 2025, rates and compares the RFMOs’ performances on those best practices. It also appears in our Web feature, “At-Sea Transshipment in Tuna Fisheries: Why Oversight Is Essential for Sustainability.”
See also our related items: RFMO Best Practices Snapshot — 2025: Transshipment Regulation and ISSF 2023-06: Transshipment: Strengthening Tuna RFMO Transshipment Regulations.
