REVIEWS Review of albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga, biology, fisheries and management Natacha Nikolic . Gilles Morandeau . Ludovic Hoarau . Wendy West . Haritz Arrizabalaga . Simon Hoyle . Simon J. Nicol . Je ´ro ˆme Bourjea . Alexis Puech . Jessica H. Farley . Ashley J. Williams . Alain Fonteneau Received: 19 July 2015 / Accepted: 27 September 2016 Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Abstract Albacore is one of the most important commercially harvested species in the world’s oceans. Despite a long history of scientific research, there is no global review or synthesis of knowledge about the species across all oceanic regions. We analysed 613 published studies that report on albacore and summa- rize the current state of knowledge on biology, stock structure, fisheries and management. To describe the trends in albacore fisheries, we examined the catch and effort databases of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. The stocks of albacore are generally largest in the Pacific Ocean and smallest in the Mediterranean Sea. The biology of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean stocks are well documented, while the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea stocks are more data deficient. These two latter areas should be considered as priorities for future research and data collection in order to better understand the state of global stocks of albacore tuna. Improved information would also assist with delineating stock boundaries needed for sustainable management of this species. Keywords Albacore Á Tuna Á Thunnus alalunga Á Biology Á Fishery Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11160-016-9453-y) contains supple- mentary material, which is available to authorized users. N. Nikolic (&) Á L. Hoarau Á J. Bourjea Á A. Puech IFREMER, De ´le ´gation Oce ´an Indien, Rue Jean BERTHO, BP60, 97822 Le Port Cedex, France e-mail: natachanikolic@hotmail.com A. Fonteneau 9 Boulevard Pore ´e, 35400 Saint Malo, France G. Morandeau IFREMER, 1 alle ´e du Parc Montaury, 64600 Anglet, France W. West Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Roggebaai 8012, South Africa H. Arrizabalaga AZTI, Herrera Kaia Portualdea z/g, 20110 Pasaia, Gipuzkoa, Spain S. Hoyle 20 Bisley Ave, Nelson 7011, New Zealand S. J. Nicol Á A. J. Williams Oceanic Fisheries Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noume ´a, New Caledonia S. J. Nicol Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Bruce 2617, ACT, Australia N. Nikolic Á G. Morandeau Á L. Hoarau Á W. West Á H. Arrizabalaga Á S. Hoyle Á S. J. Nicol Á J. Bourjea Á A. Puech Á J. H. Farley Á A. J. Williams Á A. Fonteneau CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, TAS, Australia 123 Rev Fish Biol Fisheries DOI 10.1007/s11160-016-9453-y