General Information

Content

Introduction

Tuna has become the most important commercial fishery and a major economic contributor to Vietnam's central provinces such as Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, and Binh Dinh (Nguyen et al., 2013; Nguyen and Jolly, 2018). Landings in 2019 were 16,207 metric tons accounting for USD $720 million in exported value, corresponding with 13.3% exported value of marine fisheries (VASEF, 2020). Historically, tuna were caught using longline targeting yellowfin and bigeye species, however fishermen have switched using handlines with artificial light since 2012 due to higher catching performance (Nguyen and Tran, 2014). The tuna resource is exploited year-round, on offshore fishing grounds in the South China Sea (Nguyen et al., 2013).

Given important tuna fishery in Vietnam, developing effective management guidelines for yellowfin and bigeye tuna is difficult because very little biological and demographic information has been documented (WCPFC, 2011). The study on the LWR is necessary and a primary process in order to conduct studies on fish stocks assessment.