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MeetingManaging tropical tuna purse seine fisheries through limiting the number of drifting fish aggregating devices in the Indian Ocean: food for thought 2014
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DocumentGlobal spatio-temporal patterns in tropical tuna purse seine fisheries on drifting fish aggregating devices (DFADs): Taking a historical perspective to inform current challenges 2013
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No results found.This study provides a historical overview of the use of drifting fish aggregating devices (DFADs) in purse seine fisheries since the early 1990s, using global tu fisheries datasets from the four tu Regiol Fisheries Magement Organizations (RFMOs). Tropical tu purse seine fisheries typically target large yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (Thunnus obesus) tus on free-swimming schools and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and juveniles of yellowfin and bigeye associated with drifting objects. DFA Ds have ebled global skipjack catches to markedly increase, and have also introduced major scientific issues for all tu-RFMOs. In particular, they have strongly modified the fishing strategies of purse seiners that fish on a combition of free-swimming and DFAD-associated schools. Consequently, the cumulated search time traditiolly used to quantify nomil fishing effort to assess the status of tu stocks is inconsistent and cannot be used to derive time series of abundance indices from catch-per-un it of-effort (CPUE). In addition, the lack of information available on the construction, deployment, and use of DFADs has prevented effective monitoring of the fishing pressure over the last two decades exerted by purse seine fleets using this fishing mode. Juveniles of tropical tus represent a substantial proportion of purse seine catch on DFADs in the three oceans, which has raised particular concern for some bigeye stocks that have been subject to overfishing in the past. Catches of juvenile tus by DFAD fishing may also result in a decrease in recruitment for fisheries that target adult tus such as longliners. In addition, some demographic parameters of tus and other species associated with DFADs may be affected by the resultant habitat modification arising from the widespread deployment of DFADs. Evidence in the literature and provided by the ratio-estimator method suggest that fishing DFAD-associated schools may result in about 100 000 t of bycatch and discards annually. In additi on, there is further potential for ghost fishing related mortality of sensitive species such as marine turtles and pelagic sharks. In this context and following a precautiory approach, we filly discuss the increasing need for all tu-RFMOs to reduce, or at least monitor and control, the use of DFADs to mitigate their adverse effects not only on yellowfin and bigeye stocks but also on open-ocean ecosystems. -
DocumentMovement behaviour of skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) tuna at anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the Maldives investigated using acoustic telemetry 2013
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No results found.The pole and line tu fishery in the Maldives relies heavily on an array of 45 anchored fish aggregat- ing devices (FADs), making it one of the largest anchored FAD-based tu fisheries in the world. We examined the behaviour of skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) tu around anchored FADs (1 000 to 2 000 m deep) in the Maldives using passive acoustic telemetry. Eight neighbouring FADs (distance range: 30 to 95 km, average: 50 km) were equipped with automated acoustic rece ivers in January 2009, for a period of 13 months. A total of 40 skipjack (37−54 cm FL) and 21 yellowfin (35−53 cm FL) tu were tagged with Vemco V13 transmitters in January (start of the northeast monsoon, dry season) and November (end of the southwest monsoon, wet season) 2009 and released at the two central FADs within this instrumented array. No movement between FADs was observed for any acoustically-tagged tu in the instrumented FAD array. These results suggest that FADs in the Maldives may a ct inde- pendently. The maximum time a tagged skipjack remained associated with a FAD was 12.8 days in January but only one day in November. In addition, residence times at FADs were found to differ with time (month) and space (FAD location) for skipjack tu, suggesting that exterl biotic factors (e.g., prey, conspecifics or predators) might influence the time this species spends at FADs. In November, the residence times of yellowfin tu (maximum observed time: 2.8 days) were three times greater t han those of skipjack tu at the same FADs. This specific difference could be explained either by the two species responding to different factors or by the species’ responses being dependent on the same factor but with different thresholds. No particular preference for time of departure from the FADs was observed. Some monospe- cific and multispecific pairs of acoustically-tagged individuals were observed leaving the FADs simultaneously. Thus, this study indicates a high degree of complexity in t he behavioural processes driving FAD associations.
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