kelolalaut.com - The skipjack tuna is a common species in the ocean that forms very large schools, often around floating objects. A single floating log or slowly moving adult whale shark may have tens of thousands of skipjack around it. There are several hypotheses as to why this phenomenon occurs, but scientists generally agree that skipjack use these objects – in the otherwise homogenous open ocean – as meeting places, in order to merge schools or locate sufficient numbers to hunt or reproduce. 

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Skipjack tuna are an important prey species for open ocean sharks and large bony fishes, especially the billfishes, and play an important intermediate role in pelagic food webs.

Skipjack reproduce through a behavior known as broadcast spawning, where several females release eggs and several males release sperm into the water column, all at the same time. This method increases the likelihood that eggs will become successfully fertilized and that fertilized eggs will not be eaten by egg predators.

The skipjack tuna is the most heavily fished tuna and accounts for at least 60% of the legally caught tuna landed worldwide. This species lives in tropical latitudes of all oceans and is fished commercially everywhere that it is found. Fortunately, it is fast-growing, reproduces at a young age, and produces millions of eggs, and scientists believe the fisheries that target it to be relatively well managed. Therefore, the skipjack tuna is generally considered a species of least concern. It is not at current risk of going extinct.

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Knowing the skipjack’s tendency to school around floating objects, many fishers have started designing and deploying fish aggregating devices (FADs) – manmade objects that attract skipjack and other species in the open ocean. These devices are now technologically advanced enough to measure the amount of tuna schooling below them and transmit that number, along with the FAD’s location, directly to nearby fishing boats. 
The accidental catch of other species (including sharks, sea turtles, and other tunas) and of juvenile fishes is a harmful side effect of an otherwise well-managed fishery. Without strict regulation of the way these FADs are used, other species that are at risk of endangerment or extinction could be threatened further.

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