Does climate affect North Atlantic albacore abundance?
Josu Santiago Burrutxaga UPV/EHU The objective of this work is to explain the variability of North Atlantic albacore population. This resource is of great commercial interest for the Basque fishing fleet. It is managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT); recent evaluations conducted by this commission indicate that, although there has been a decrease in the fishing pressure targeting North Atlantic albacore, the stock seems to face a situation of fully exploitation. In order to determine the variability of the North Atlantic albacore population abundance a stock assessment was conducted for the period 1957-1999. After reviewing different aspects of its biology and fishing, those basic statistics and biological parameters necessaries for the assessment were estimated. As for basic statistics, the information obtained for each fleet and year was the following: catch, fishing effort, length frequency distributions and catch per unit effort. Regar