Pacific Tuna Fisheries Science and Global Policy Drivers

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 14 - Life Below Water and SDG 13 - Climate Action.

Shanghai Ocean University (SHOU), the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) are co-hosting an International Symposium on the Science of Pacific Tunas and Tuna Fisheries on 8 – 10th October 2025, in Shanghai, China. The symposium will discuss the latest natural and social sciences of Pacific tunas and tuna fisheries and aim to strengthen necessary scientific cooperation in the context of climate change and global policy drivers. The symposium will focus on three themes:

• Biological and ecological studies of Pacific tunas. Papers and discussions on tuna biology (growth, reproduction, etc.) and tuna ecology (migration, forage, population structure, population distribution, etc.). Studies on climate change impacts, tuna sampling and tuna genetics are also invited.
• Stock assessment and management strategy evaluation of Pacific tunas. Papers and discussions on tuna stock assessment (assessment model development, CPUE standardization, reference points etc.) as well as tuna management strategy evaluation (operating model development, management procedure development and testing, etc). Papers on integrating climate change into stock assessments and MSE are also invited.
• Global policy drivers for Pacific tuna fisheries. Papers and discussions on the wider influences of global initiatives on regional tuna science and policy, including studies on BBNJ, ITLOS advisory opinion on climate change, WTO fishery subsidies, SDGs, etc.

The co-hosts invite conference participants to submit papers to a special collection that will focus on developments in Pacific tuna fisheries science and management procedures, and the global policy drivers that influence the development, conservation and management of the Pacific tuna fisheries. In addition to the individual papers, the co-hosts will coordinate three papers that analyse the three themes, and an overarching synthesis paper that discusses the key insights from the conference.