%0 Journal Article 
%A Andrews, Adam J.
%A Di Natale, Antonio
%A Bernal Casasola, Darío
%A Aniceti, Veronica
%A Onar, Vedat
%A Oueslati, Tarek
%A Theodropoulou, Tatiana
%A Morales‑Muñiz, Arturo
%A Cilli, Elisabetta
%A Tinti, Fausto
%T Exploitation history of Atlantic bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean—insights from ancient bones
%D 2022
%@ 1054-3139

%U http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26634
%X Overexploitation has directly, negatively affectedmarine fish populations in the past half-century, modifying not only their abundance but their
behaviour and life-history traits. The recovery and resilience of such populations is dependent upon their exploitation history, which often extends
backmillennia. Hence, data on when exploitation intensified and how populations were composed in historical periods, have the potential
to reveal long-term population dynamics and provide context on the baselines currently used in fisheries management and conservation. Here,
we setup a framework for investigations on the exploitation history of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus; BFT) in the eastern Atlantic and
Mediterranean by collating records of their zooarchaeological remains and critically reviewing these alongside the literature. Then, we outline
how novel multidisciplinary applications on BFT remains may be used to document long-term population dynamics. Our review of literature
provides clear evidence of BFT overexploitation during the mid-th century ce. Furthermore, a strong case could be made that the intensification
of BFT exploitation extends back further to at least the th century ce, if not the th–th century ce, in the eastern Atlantic and
Mediterranean. However, a host of archaeological evidence would suggest that BFT exploitation may have been intensive since antiquity. Altogether,
this indicates that by the currently usedmanagement baselines of the s, population abundance and complexity was already likely to
have declined from historical levels, and we identify how biomolecular and morphometric analyses of BFT remains have the potential to further
investigate this.
%K biomolecular analyses
%K fish remains
%K historical baselines
%K historical marine ecology
%K Thunnus thynnus
%K zooarchaeology
%~ Universidad de Cádiz