Effects of Climate Variability on Two Commercial Tuna Species Abundance in the Indian Ocean

Oceanic temperature fluctuations are one of the leading factors affecting marine fish populations. Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), characterized as sea surface (SST) anomaly change, is an ocean–atmosphere interactive process causing interannual climate variability in Ocean. Influences IOD on tuna catch rates supported by previous research. Yet, there remains limited information about impacts abundance stocks. In this study, we used standardized Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) index to present stock and compared effects bigeye (Thunnus obesus) yellowfin albacares) among different management areas Tuna Commission (IOTC). Results show significant correlations between events both species’ tropical western However, eastern southern Ocean, neither nor abundances were significantly correlated IOD. For whole was uniquely with abundance. Our results emphasized importance evaluating over fisheries species per fishing analyses.