Résumé
An index of relative abundance for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares ) was calculated from CPUEs of all the Venezuelan purse seiners operating in the west Atlantic, without favoring any category in particular. This index, standardized to "large purse seiner" units, decreases by half between 1983 and 1986, then stabilizes at around 8 MT/fishing day up to 1988. After the sharp increase in 1989, this value fell to less than 10 MT/fishing day in 1990. The estimates of the maximum equilibrium catch of this species, with the current exploitation scheme, is near 35,000 MT. However, the coastal and restricted nature of a large part of this fishery must be considered.