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El Nino Southern Oscillation and Tuna in the Western PacificNearly 70% of the world's annual tuna harvest, currently 3.2 million tonnes, comes from the Pacific Ocean. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) dominate the catch. Although skipjack are distributed in the surface mixed layer throughout the equatorial and subtropical Pacific, catches are highest in the western equatorial Pacific warm pool, a region characterized by low primary productivity rates that has the warmest surface waters of the world's oceans. Assessments of tuna stocks indicate that recent western Pacific skipjack catches approaching one million tonnes annually are sustainable. The warm pool, which is fundamental to the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Earth's climate in general, must therefore also provide a habitat capable of supporting this highly productive tuna population. Here we show that apparent spatial shifts in the skipjack population are linked to large zonal displacements of the warm pool that occur during ENSO events. This relationship can be used to predict (several months in advance) the region of highest skipjack abundance, within a fishing ground extending over 6,000 km along the Equator.
Document ID
20000037976
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Lehodey, P.
(South Pacific Commission Noumea, New Caledonia)
Bertignac, M.
(South Pacific Commission Noumea, New Caledonia)
Hampton, J.
(South Pacific Commission Noumea, New Caledonia)
Lewis, A.
(South Pacific Commission Noumea, New Caledonia)
Picaut, J.
(Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer Noumea, New Caledonia)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
August 14, 1997
Publication Information
Publication: Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Research Publications
Subject Category
Oceanography
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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