SUMMARY

• Main Author: F. X. Bard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.463.1408; http://www.iccat.org/Documents/CVSP/CV052_2001/no_4/CV052041447.pdf

The history of albacore (Thunnus alalunga) fisheries in the north Atlantic is a long one. A particular feature is that overall production peaked during the decade of the sixties and never reached the same level in the following decades. Nowadays, total production is levelling at half the production of the 1960s. This has generated much research and discussion, particularly during the ICCAT Albacore Research Program, but up to now there has been no clear interpretation of this situation of depressed catches, particularly for surface gears. The purpose of the present paper is to bring new information or recall some past studies on the geographical and vertical extension of habitat of albacore, and associated oceanographic conditions. In the light of the above mentioned changes, the information suggests an alternative interpretation of the actual status of exploitation of the north Atlantic stock. RÉSUMÉ La pêche au germon dans l’Atlantique nord a une longue histoire. Un de ses aspects particuliers est que la production globale a atteint pendant les années 1960 un niveau maximum qu’elle n’a plus jamais atteint pendant les décennies suivantes. A l’heure actuelle, le niveau de la production globale est la moitié de celui des années 1960. Ceci a donné lieu à beaucoup de