The major commercial tuna species are albacore, bigeye Atlantic, northern and southern bluefin, skipjack and yellowfin tunas.
The yellow fin tuna is found on the West Coast from Southern California to Southern Chile. Yellow fin tuna are caught by various gears such as purse seines, longlines and baitboats.
Until the development of the purse –seine fishery, most of the catches were made by longlines, which take medium to large-sized fish, as one of the main target species.
Southern bluefin tuna are distributed only in the southern hemisphere and mainly inhabit cold waters around 40 degree S. However, their spawning grounds are in tropical waters.
Bluefin tuna range from Nova Scotia to Brazil on the East Coast and from Southern California to Northern Mexico on the West Coast.
Skipjack is one of the most abundant pelagic tuna species, inhabiting of tropical waters. Skipjack tuna are cosmopolitan and subtropical seas, usually in deep coastal and oceanic waters. The skipjack is found in the Pacific Ocean from Southern California to Central and Southern America.
Albacore is a member of the Scombridae family of tuna and mackerel. It is an excellent light-tackle gamefish. Albacore is best known as Americas highest grade, ‘white meat’ canned tuna.
The albacore ranges from Puget Sound to lower California. The yellow tail is found in Pacific waters from Southern California to the coast of Mexico.
Several other species of tuna found elsewhere, especially in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Tuna distribution
