Understanding fishery interactions and stock trajectory of yellowfin tuna exploited by Iranian fisheries in the Sea of Oman

Over the last decades, views on fisheries management have oscillated between alarm and trust in the management process. The predominant policy for remedying the world fishing crisis aims at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by adjusting gear selectivity and fishing effort to meet sustainable stock levels. The yellowfin tuna fishery in the Sea of Oman has experienced intense increases in removals since 1980, with particularly high levels since the 1990s. Here we provide an analysis of the fisheries and a preliminary evaluation of stock status for yellowfin tuna in the Sea of Oman since the start of the fishery in 1950 to 2019. Despite limited data, population models indicate a sharp decline in population status since the beginning of the time series, despite a variety of assumptions on stock productivity and life history. The gillnet fishery is almost exclusively taking immature individuals with high fishing intensity and removal rates. Adjusting the interactions of that fishery with the population, while continuing to collection biological composition data representative of each fleet in the fishery, will help mitigate current stock decline and provide the ability to refine future population status determination and forecasts through more informed stock assessments.