Verifier of the maximum sustainable yield estimates of the southern Atlantic albacore,Thunnus alalunga,stock

Abstract Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) has generally been accepted as one of the target biological reference points. Albacore,Thunnus alalungaBonnaterre, is a temperate tuna species widely distributed in marine waters. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) had reported the southern Atlantic albacore stock status with differentMSYreference points. In addition, the European Commission's Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA), on 15 September 2006, proposed to amend the Common Fisheries Policy according to theMSYprinciple, but there is little information on the verifier of theMSYestimates of this albacore stock. This study verifies theMSYestimates of this albacore (T. alalunga) stock to support the management (i.e. setting ofMSY) for the southern Atlantic albacore (T. alalunga) stock. TheMSYestimates of the albacore stock were evaluated and verified by different models (i.e. Bayesian surplus production model [BSPM], continuous time delay‐difference model [CD‐DM] and Fox surplus production model [SPM]). TheMSYestimates fromBSPMandCD‐DMwere lower than those from conventional estimates; the relative biomass ratio (B2011/BMSY) and relative fishing mortality ratio (F2011/FMSY) fromBSPMandCD‐DMwere higher than those fromICCAT, which showed that measures should be taken for the sustainable utilisation of this fish stock.