The stock structure of Kawakawa, eastern little tuna, is not completely known. Results of a study indicated that this species is panmixing in Southeast Asia but with a possible sub-population in the southern Philippines (Santos et al. 2010). Until more clarity on the stock structure is not available, this profile is defined at the management unit level,  the Philippines Fishery Management Area 4 (FMA 4), which covers the southeastern part of the Sulu Sea and includes  Panay Gulf, waters off of the islands of Panay, Guimaras, and western Negros, down to the  Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Sulu Archipelago. FMAs were established in January 2019 (Fisheries Administrative Order 263) to focus on the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. This profile may undergo restructuring in the future as new information comes to light.

In the Philippine Statistics Authority, or PSA, the production volume of  Kawakawa is reported as Eastern little tuna (Bonito)  (see OpenSTAT). In NSAP’s Philippine Capture Fisheries Atlas kawakawa stock assessments occur in selected sites (see (Barut et al. 2017); catch landing data however is aggregated under  “neritic tuna” (Santos et al. 2017).