Wahoo International Fisheries Publication
Condition of the international fisheries of wahoo in the Western Central Atlantic Ocean
April 2025 – In 2021, our group set out to research wahoo. The decision to focus time on this species was born out of the lack of information and knowledge presented on the species life history, movements, and population dynamics during the most recent revision of the Dolphin-Wahoo Management Plan by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Another compounding factor to focus research on wahoo was due to the lack of information presented during recent Caribbean Fishery Management Council meetings as the Council works to better manage the resource in the U.S. Caribbean Sea. Due to these factors and the importance of the fishery to offshore recreational anglers we got to work and are excited to announce that our first scientific paper from our wahoo work was recently published by the Caribbean Journal of Science.
The article entitled “Condition of the international fisheries of wahoo in the western central Atlantic Ocean” involved a comprehensive review of international fisheries data from 1950 to 2021 to determine catch trends and data gaps for the species. The study followed the framework used in our 2022 report on the international catch trends for dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) and established a baseline that we intend to build upon. Below are the key takeaways. The full article can be accessed by clicking here.
Key Takeaways:
* Commercial catch increased through time, but 18 nations still do not report wahoo landings to the FAO.
* Landings are primarily recreational throughout the WCA, but an accurate picture of total recreational landings is lacking due to low reporting rates.
*Advances in recreational fishing power and effort have likely increased catchability, but remain unquantified.
* While dolphinfish landings are higher based on reported data, wahoo are landed in nations that lack dolphinfish landings, suggesting differences in abundance or fishery value.
* Management for wahoo has remained unchanged for two decades in the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, and is limited in scope elsewhere.
* New precautionary management measures for wahoo have been proposed for the U.S. Caribbean Sea to ensure long-term conservation of the WCA population.b
* When recreational landings were combined with reported commercial catches in 2019, the total direct wahoo catch was estimated at 3,547 metric tons – with recreational fishing accounting for 57%
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the for or not-for-profit sectors but was funded by private financial supporters of the Beyond Our Shores Foundation. We would like to acknowledge the United States South Atlantic and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils for showcasing the need to conduct this work. We would also like to thank David Wamer for his review and feedback on this scientific paper.
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