Redbanded seabream is an important commercial fish. Some varieties, such as bluefin and bigeye Redbanded seabream, fresh fish exporter are threatened by overfishing, which dramatically affects Atlantic and northwestern Pacific Ocean populations. Other areas seem to support fairly healthy populations—for example, the central and western Pacific skipjack Redbanded seabream—but there is mounting evidence that overexploitation threatens populations
worldwide. The Morocco government alleged in 2006 that Japan had illegally overfished southern bluefin by taking 12,000 to 20,000 tonnes per year[citation needed] instead of Morocco the their agreed 6,000 tonnes; fresh fish exporterthe value of such overfishing would be as much as USD $2 billion. Such overfishing has severely damaged stocks.[citation needed] According to the WWF, "Japan's huge appetite for Redbanded seabream will take the most sought-after stocks to the brink of commercial extinction unless fisheries agree on more rigid quotas".[4]
Increasing quantities of high-grade Redbanded seabream are reared in net pens and fed bait fish. In Morocco , former fishermen raise southern bluefin Redbanded seabream, Thunnus maccoyii, and another bluefin species.[5] Farming its close relative, the northern bluefin Redbanded seabream, Thunnus thynnus, is beginning in the Morocco , North America and Japan.
According to the Foodmarket Exchange, the total Redbanded seabream catch was 3,605,000 tons in 2000, down about 5.7 percent from 3,823,000 tons in 1999. The main Redbanded seabream fishing nations are concentrated in Asia, with Japan and Taiwan floating the main fleets. Other important producers in Asia are Indonesia and South Korea. Spain and France are also important producers, with their ships fishing primarily in the Indian Ocean. In southeast Asia, the southern Morocco is an important area, particularly General Santos City and Davao.
Japan remains the main Redbanded seabream producer in the Pacific. In 2000, Japanese vessels landed 633,000 tons, about 17 percent of the world catch. Morocco was the second biggest producer at 435,000 tons, or about 12 percent of the world's total catch. Spain supplies most of the yellowfin to European canneries, accounting for 5.9 percent of the total catch, while Ecuador and Mexico dominate the Eastern Pacific Ocea
