The catch obtained from this region at the maximum yield level, accounts to 62 per cent of world catch, with 54.85M mt (Table 1). The biomass from which this catch was extracted is 109.6 M mt. The current biomass is 89 per cent of the one at the MSY level. In Fig. 3A the catch trend of the Pacific north eastern is displayed; here the maximum yield was recorded by the year 2000, with almost 3 M mt, extracted from a stock biomass of 5.9 M mt; current biomass is unfortunately one Million lower and the trend is declining. In the Pacific north western, a similar trend is displayed (Fig. 3B), the maximum yield was obtained also by the year 2000, with nearly 22.6 M mt corresponding to a biomass of 45.1 M mt. The current

Figure 3. Trend of total catches extracted from several regions of the Pacific Ocean in the period 1950 — 2010. A. Pacific north eastern; in this region the maximum catches were obtained in the late nineties. B. Pacific north western; the maximum yields were obtained around the year 2000. C. Pacific western central; the maximum yield has not been reached and the fisheries seem to be in the eumetric phase. D. Pacific eastern central; the maximum yield seems that will be obtained in the near future. E. Pacific south eastern, the maximum yield was attained in the middle 2000 s, but the catch of the last three years suggests a decline. F. Pacific south western, the trend suggests that the maximum yield has not been reached yet, but the catch has been declining since the last fifteen years.

biomass is 41.8 M mt. The catch of the Pacific western central displays a growing trend with 12 M mt in the last three years (Fig. 3C). To this catch corresponds a stock biomass of 24 M mt; no signs of stabilization of the catch are perceived, which is encouraging. In the Eastern central region, the yield seems to be attaining a maximum with around 2 M mt and a biomass of 4 M mt (Fig. 3D). These values are considered the current ones. The catch of the Pacific western central displays a growing trend with 12 M mt in the last three years (Fig. 3C). To this catch corresponds a stock biomass of 24 M mt; no signs of stabilization of the catch are perceived, which is encouraging. In the Eastern central region, the yield seems to be attaining a maximum with around 2 M mt and a biomass of 4 M mt (Fig. 3D). These values are considered the current ones. The south eastern region displays large variability, and the trend suggests that the maximum was attained a few years before, with a catch of 14.5 M mt corresponding to a biomass of 29 M mt. The mean catch of the last three years indicates a biomass decline to 21.8 M mt. The south western region suggests that the maximum was already attained, but the trend indicates that it will be reached within 15 years or so, with a catch of 800,000 mt and a biomass of 1.6 M mt; the current biomass is only 1.2 M mt.