Determination of<i>L</i>_maxfor Atlantic Bluefin Tuna,<i>Thunnus thynnus</i>(L.), from Meta-Analysis of Published and Available Biometric Data

A meta-analysis of the straight fork lengths (herewith abbreviated as L) of 2,458,028 Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus&#13;\n(L.), taken from 224 scientific publications and unpublished L data from scientific organizations and fishing companies spanning most of the known Atlantic and Mediterranean Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries dating from 1605 to 2011, give L&#13;\nvalues ranging from Lmin = 20 cm and Lmax = 330 cm. The results indicate that the parameter L∞ = 318.85 cm of the&#13;\ngrowth equation used by ICCAT’s Standing Committee on Research and Statistics Atlantic bluefin tuna assessment group&#13;\nfor the eastern stock (Lt = 318.85 [1 – e−0.093 (t + 0.97)]) lies within the confidence limits of the maximum Ls presented in the&#13;\nstudy: Lmax = 319.93 ± 11.3 cm, confirming that this equation perfectly fits the biology of the growth of this species. These&#13;\nconclusions are also valid for the equation for the western stock (Lt = 314.90 [1 – e−0.089 (t +1.13)]). The ICCAT Atlantic&#13;\nbluefin tuna database contains numerous records of Atlantic bluefin tuna L outside the biological feasibility, and solutions&#13;\nare provided to recognize and remove these outliers based on the application of fixed values of Fulton’s condition factor (K)&#13;\nbetween 1.4 and 2.6 and appropriate L-W relationships to correct this situation in the future.