Study on the catch, bycatch and discard of Chinese pelagic longline fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean

This study analyzed Chinese pelagic tuna longline observer data from 2010 to 2018 to determine catch composition of Atlantic targeting bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), as well as the status and discard rate common bycatch species. A total of 55 species were observed as bycatch, and the most common was shark species. The catch composition of the bigeye tuna fishery varies significantly from that of bluefin tuna.