Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents

Abstract The sustainability of tuna fisheries relies on effective management measures and understanding the various regional patterns of fleet dynamics is helpful to inform the international collaborations of fisheries management at the global scale. In this study, we proposed a novel method based o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xin Cheng, Bo Zhang, Yanan Li, Hongyu Lin, Xinjun Chen, Fan Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-08-01
Series:npj Ocean Sustainability
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00150-5
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849766372405411840
author Xin Cheng
Bo Zhang
Yanan Li
Hongyu Lin
Xinjun Chen
Fan Zhang
author_facet Xin Cheng
Bo Zhang
Yanan Li
Hongyu Lin
Xinjun Chen
Fan Zhang
author_sort Xin Cheng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The sustainability of tuna fisheries relies on effective management measures and understanding the various regional patterns of fleet dynamics is helpful to inform the international collaborations of fisheries management at the global scale. In this study, we proposed a novel method based on the transferability of classification models to compare the similarity of tuna fishing fleets across different continents. Both static and dynamic features of 1450 tuna fishing vessels were extracted from 36,048,449 AIS data across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America, as well as a two-stage experiment was designed to test the transferability of classification model between different continents by using all features as well as only using the dynamic features. Results indicated that, when considering all features, the transferability of classification models were relatively high across continents. When only considering the dynamic features, the classification models trained by European and North American fleets are applicable to fleets from most other continents but not vice versa, suggesting that the European and North American fleets exhibited more diverse and generic dynamics than the other continents. In contrast, the model trained by African fleets performed poorly when applied to vessel classification for the other continents, highlighting the African fleet exhibited more special and specific dynamics. Additionally, the model transferability was high between the Asian and Oceanian fleets, implying strong similarity of their fleet dynamics. These findings may be linked to the developmental history of tuna fisheries across continents, emphasizing the importance of social and economic factors in determining the dynamics of global tuna fishing fleets.
format Article
id doaj-art-3a3f31477cdb4539a2a293c616a05675
institution DOAJ
issn 2731-426X
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series npj Ocean Sustainability
spelling doaj-art-3a3f31477cdb4539a2a293c616a056752025-08-20T03:04:36ZengNature Portfolionpj Ocean Sustainability2731-426X2025-08-014111110.1038/s44183-025-00150-5Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continentsXin Cheng0Bo Zhang1Yanan Li2Hongyu Lin3Xinjun Chen4Fan Zhang5College of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean UniversityAsia-Pacific Typhoon Collaborative Research CenterCollege of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean UniversityCollege of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean UniversityCollege of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean UniversityCollege of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean UniversityAbstract The sustainability of tuna fisheries relies on effective management measures and understanding the various regional patterns of fleet dynamics is helpful to inform the international collaborations of fisheries management at the global scale. In this study, we proposed a novel method based on the transferability of classification models to compare the similarity of tuna fishing fleets across different continents. Both static and dynamic features of 1450 tuna fishing vessels were extracted from 36,048,449 AIS data across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America, as well as a two-stage experiment was designed to test the transferability of classification model between different continents by using all features as well as only using the dynamic features. Results indicated that, when considering all features, the transferability of classification models were relatively high across continents. When only considering the dynamic features, the classification models trained by European and North American fleets are applicable to fleets from most other continents but not vice versa, suggesting that the European and North American fleets exhibited more diverse and generic dynamics than the other continents. In contrast, the model trained by African fleets performed poorly when applied to vessel classification for the other continents, highlighting the African fleet exhibited more special and specific dynamics. Additionally, the model transferability was high between the Asian and Oceanian fleets, implying strong similarity of their fleet dynamics. These findings may be linked to the developmental history of tuna fisheries across continents, emphasizing the importance of social and economic factors in determining the dynamics of global tuna fishing fleets.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00150-5
spellingShingle Xin Cheng
Bo Zhang
Yanan Li
Hongyu Lin
Xinjun Chen
Fan Zhang
Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
npj Ocean Sustainability
title Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
title_full Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
title_fullStr Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
title_full_unstemmed Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
title_short Divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
title_sort divergent patterns of global tuna fishing fleet dynamics among different continents
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00150-5
work_keys_str_mv AT xincheng divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents
AT bozhang divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents
AT yananli divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents
AT hongyulin divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents
AT xinjunchen divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents
AT fanzhang divergentpatternsofglobaltunafishingfleetdynamicsamongdifferentcontinents