Report of the Eleventh Session of the IOTC Working Party on Billfish

Report of the Eleventh Session of the IOTC Working Party on Billfish

Year of publication 2013

Product type Meeting

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The Eleventh Session of the Indian Ocean Tu Commission?s (IOTC) Working Party on Billfish (WPB) was held in La Réunion, France, from 18 to 22 September 2013. A total of 24 (23 in 2012) participants attended the Session, including one invited expert, Dr. Humber Andrade, from the Universidade Federal Rural de Permbuco, Brazil. The meeting was opened on 18 September, 2013 by the Chair, Dr Jérôme Bourjea (La Réunion, France), who welcomed participants to La Réunion, France. Catch, Catch-and-effort, Size data The WPB RECOMMENDED that all CPCs assess and improve the status of catch-and-effort data for marlins (by species) and sailfish, noting that improvements to the data for the EU fleets and its provision to the IOTC Secretariat, would be most beneficial to the work of the WPB. (para. 25) Effect of piracy on billfish fisheries The WPB NOTED that, although no specific alysis of the impacts of piracy on fisheries in the Indian Ocean were presented at this meeting, paper IOTC–2013–WPB11–07 Re v_1 indicated that there has been a substantial displacement of catch (Fig. 1) and effort eastward (Fig. 2). Since 2004, annual catches have declined steadily, largely due to the continued decline in the number of active Taiwan,Chi longliners in the Indian Ocean (Fig. 3). In recent years, the proportion of fishing effort of the Japanese longline fleet sharply decreased in the north-western Indian Ocean (off the Somalia coastline), while fishing effort increased in the area south of 25°S, especia lly off western Australia. (para. 40) The WPB NOTED that the relative number of active longline vessels in the IOTC area of competence have declined substantially since 2008 (Fig. 3), and AGREED that this was likely due to the impact of piracy activities in the western Indian Ocean. Since 2011, there has been an increase in the relative number of active longline vessels in the Indian Ocean for Japan (68 in 2011 to 98 in 2012), Chi (10 in 2011 to 32 in 2012) and the Philippines (2 in 2011 to 14 i n 2012) (Fig. 3). (Para. 41) Pakistan gillnet fishery RECALLING IOTC Resolution 12/12 to prohibit the use of large-scale driftnets on the high seas in the IOTC area, paragraph 1, which states: “1. The use of large-scale driftnets on the high seas within the IOTC area of competence shall be prohibited.” “Large-scale driftnets” are defined as gillnets or other nets or a combition of nets that are more than 2.5 kilometers in length whose purpose is to enmesh, entrap, or entangle fish by drifting on the surface of, or in, the water column.”, the WPB RECOMMENDED that the SC note the findings of the study that gillnets in excess of the 2.5 km limit are being used by the gillnet fleets of Pakistan on the high seas, in contravention of Resolution 12/12. (para. 44) Revision of the WPB workplan The WPB RECOMMENDED that the SC consider and endorse the workplan and assessment schedule for the WPB for 2014, and tentatively for future years, as provided at Appendix XII and Appendix XIII, respectivel y. (para 192) Consolidated recommendations of the Eleventh Session of the Working Party on Billfish The WPB RECOMMENDED that the Scientific Committee consider the consolidated set of recommendations arising from WPB11, provided at Appendix XIV, as well as the magement advice provided in the draft resource stock status summary for each of the billfish species under the IOTC mandate: (para 205) o Black marlin (Makaira indica) – Appendix VII o Blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) – Appendix VIII o Strip ed marlin (Tetrapturus audax) – Appendix IX o Indo-Pacific sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) – Appendix X o Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) – Appendix XI ???????????????????A summary of the stock status for billfish species under the IOTC mandate is provided in Table 1.

Statutory body / Meeting title Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)

Meeting symbol IOTC-2013-WPB11-R

Meeting Session Number 11

Language English

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Meeting

Report of the Ninth Session of the IOTC Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch 2013

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The Ninth Session of the Indian Ocean Tu Commission‘s (IOTC) Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB) was held in La Reunion, France, from 12 to 16 September 2013. A total of 32 participants (48 in 2012) attended the Session. The meeting was opened by Mr Ludovic Courtois, Secrétaire général du Comité régiol des pêches maritimes et des élevages marins (CRPMEM) de La Réunion, who welcomed participants to La Reunion and formally opened the Ninth Session of the IOTC Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch. The Chair, Dr. Charles Anderson also subsequently welcomed participants to La Reunion, including the Invited Expert, Dr. Ronel Nel, from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Employment of a Fisheries Officer NOTING the rapidly increasing scientific workload at the IOTC Secretariat, including a wide range of additiol duties on ecosystems and bycatch assigned to it by the SC and the Commission, and that the new Fishery Officer (Science) supporting the IOTC scientific activities has not been given a mandate by the Commission to work on ecosystems and bycatch matters, the WPEB strongly RECOMMENDED that the Commission approve the hiring of a Fishery Officer (Bycatch) to work on bycatch matters in support of the scientific process. (para.12) Regiol observer scheme The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the Compliance Committee and Commission consider how to address the lack of implementation of regiol observer schemes by CPCs for their fleets and reporti ng to the IOTC Secretariat as per the provision of Resolution 11/04 on a Regiol Observer Scheme, noting the update provided in Appendix VI. (para.35) The WPEB RECOMMENDED that as a priority, the IOTC Secretariat should immediately commence work with CPCs that are yet to develop and implement a Regiol Observer Scheme that would meet the requirements contained in Resolution 11/04, and provide an update at the next session of the WPEB. (para.37) Training for CPCs having gillnet fleets on species id entification, bycatch mitigation and data collection methods and also to identify other potential sources of assistance – Development of plans of action The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the Commission allocate funds in its 2014 and 2015 budgets for the IOTC Secretariat to carry out training for CPCs having gillnet fleets on bycatch mitigation methods, species identification, and data collection methods (budget estimate: Table 4). (para.64) Ecological Risk Assessment: review of current knowledge and pot ential magement implications The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the Commission note the list of the 10 most vulnerable shark species to longline gear (Table 7) and purse seine gear (Table 8) in the Indian Ocean, as determined by a productivity susceptibility alysis, compared to the list of shark species/groups required to be recorded for each gear, contained in Resolution 13/03 on the recording of catch and effort by fishing vessels in the IOTC area of competence. At the next revision to Resolution 13/03 , the Commission may wish to add the missing species/groups of sharks and rays. (para.123) Review of data needs and way forward for the evaluation of shark stocks NOTING that Resolution 10/02 mandatory statistical requirements for IOTC Members and Cooperating Non- Contracting Parties (CPC's), makes provision for data to be reported to the IOTC on ?the most commonly caught shark species and, where possible, to the less common shark species?, without giving any list defining the most common and le ss common species, and recognising the general lack of shark data being recorded and reported to the IOTC Secretariat, the WPEB RECOMMENDED that Resolution 10/02 is revised in order to include the list of most commonly caught elasmobranch species (Table 10) for which nomil catch data shall be reported as part of the statistical requirement for IOTC CPCs. (para.138) Review of Resolution 12/04 on the conservation of marine turtles The WPEB RECOMMENDED that at the next revision of IOTC Resolution 1 2/04 on the conservation of marine turtles, the measure is strengthened to ensure that where possible, CPCs report annually on the total estimated level of incidental catches of marine turtles, by species, as provided at Table 12. (para.168) Resolution 10/02 Mandatory statistical [reporting] requirements for IOTC Members and Cooperating Non- Contracting Parties (CPCs) NOTING that Resolution 10/02 does not make provisions for data to be reported to the IOTC on marine turtles, the WPEB RECOMMENDED that Resolution 10/02 is revised in order to make the reporting requirements coherent with those stated in Resolution 12/04 on the conservation of marine turtles and Resolution 13/03 on On the recording of catch and effort by fishing vessels in the IOTC area of competence. (para.169) Format of future WPEB Sessions The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the SC note the following: (para.253) ? The WPEB DISCUSSED the future format in order to focus the efforts of scientists working on different groups of bycat ch species to address more efficiently, the mandate of the group. ? The WPEB CONSIDERED a range of options which the SC is asked to consider: o Option 1: The current WPEB be split into two; A dedicated Working Party on Sharks (WPS) and a Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB). o Option 2: Retaining the WPEB in its current form, with alterting focus of sharks in one year, followed by other ecosystem and bycatch issues in the next year. o Option 3: Maintaining the WPEB with clear guideline s to deal with sharks every year, as well as other issues and bycatch groups in alterte years or as required. ? The WPEB AGREED that shark issues were important to address on a yearly basis. Election of a Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson for the next biennium The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the SC note the new Chairperson, Dr. Rui Coelho (EU,Portugal) and Vice- Chairperson, Dr. Evgeny Romanov (La Réunion), of the WPEB for the next biennium. (para.263) Report of the Ninth Session of the Working Party o n Ecosystems and Bycatch The WPEB RECOMMENDED that the Scientific Committee consider the consolidated set of recommendations arising from WPEB09, provided at Appendix XXI, as well as the magement advice provided in the draft resource stock status summary for each of the seven shark species, as well of those for marine turtles and seabirds: (para.265) Sharks o Blue sharks (Prioce glauca) – Appendix X o Oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus) – Appendix XI o Scalloped hammerhead sharks ( Sphyr lewini) – Appendix XII o Shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus) – Appendix XIII o Silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) – Appendix XIV o Bigeye thresher sharks (Alopias superciliosus) – Appendix XV o Pelagic thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus) – Appendix XVI Other species/groups o Marine turtles – Appendix XVII o Seabirds – Appendix XVIII A summary of the stock status for some of the most commonly caught shark species caught in association with IOTC fisheries for tu and tu-like species is provided in Table 1.
Document

Pilot project to improve data collection for tuna, sharks and billfish from artisanal fisheries in the Indian Ocean 2013

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The Indian Ocean Tu Commission (IOTC), acknowledging the need for improved artisal fisheries reporting by the countries in the region, proposed a study to investigate the issues affecting these countries and possible solutions to the problems. This study concentrated on the capacity that countries in the Indian Ocean have to report artisal fishery catches on near-real time but recommendations were also made in some specific cases about semi-industrial and industrial fisheries if deficiencies wer e observed. Nine countries were visited and initial assessments made on their capacities to report catches from artisal fleets in near real-time. Speed of reporting and quality of data were investigated and recommendations made where appropriate. The countries visited capture over 87% of the total catch through coastal fisheries of the three species of interest (bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack tu) to the IOTC. Other countries were not visited for a variety of reasons. Pakistan and Yemen have impo rtant catches (6.7%) but could not be visited due to security concerns; Comoros has an IOTC- OFCF project in progress, and Oman has a good reporting system in place. The limitations of this study must be appreciated. Understanding the plethora of issues in such a short amount of time, sometimes as little as five days in a country, presents particular challenges that cannot be ignored. The amount of time spent and size of each country, complexities of the fisheries, people met, institutiol linkag es, politics, and other factors influenced the understanding of the issues by the consultant as well as the actions proposed. Much of the information collected may not be considered factual but anecdotal as on many occasions people from the same or different organizations contradicted each other and it was not always possible to verify the accuracy of their claims. In addition, the lack of consistency on how data are gathered in the same country shows that the region is a long way from having co nsistent methodologies in place. Although many artisal fisheries do not target tu due to limitations in the vessels the changes proposed here apply not only to tus, sharks and billfishes but also to the rest of species as the issues encountered with experimental design, sampling and reporting are pervasive and common to all fisheries. The objectives of the mission were 1. to meet with relevant officials including the Chief of Statistics, personnel responsible for aggregation and handling of fish eries data, and representatives at the provincial and district levels; 2. to visit various ports to determine the flow of information and possible areas for improvement; 3. to describe the issues affecting the timely report of artisal fishery data and investigation of possible solutions, implementation and costs; and 4. to recommend on data collection and magement activities that would make possible close to real-time reporting of data from artisal fisheries including implementation of pilot sam pling activities and strengthening of existing data collection and magement systems. These activities aimed to answer the question posed by the Commission on whether countries in the region, as a whole, have the capacity to report accurate catches in near-real time The short answer to the question made by the Commission is an unequivocal no. There are many issues affecting the capacity of these countries to produce not only reliable but timely statistics and in this document these concerns are a ddressed individually in the country reports. This does not mean, however, that there are no countries that with small changes and a dose of political will could report significantly improved statistics in the time frame proposed. Some of the countries visited could have reduced timelines and improved statistics if collection of fisheries data were given the priority it deserves. At this time, however, the great majority of countries cannot, or do not report, their catches discrimited by species , gear and month in the proposed timeframe of one to two weeks after the end of each month. It is necessary for IOTC to define artisal vessels as the temporary definition used in this study includes boats from semi industrial and industrial fleets. Because of the diversity and complexity of fishing fleets found throughout the region, neither size nor any other single characteristic will be sufficient to describe an artisal vessel. The definition will have to be based on a series of criteria (e.g . fulfilling three out of five characteristics that may include gear used, size of boat, size of motor, autonomy, type of storage, etc). The fleets encountered in many countries show a range of interchangeable fishing techniques, capacity to fish close or far to shore, capabilities to stay from a few to many days away from port and other characteristics that are usually associated with more developed fleets. Even if a definition by IOTC exists, countries need to define their fisheries magement u nits to clearly separate artisal, semi industrial and industrial components to avoid aggregation of vessels that may use similar gear but have different capacities (e.g. sizes, autonomy, etc) and therefore different catches. Contracting and Cooperating Non-contracting Parties (CPCs) in the region have the obligation to fulfil the requirements set by the Commission. At this time near-real time reporting is not one of them but countries should evaluate their needs and consider the suggestions give n here to improve their reporting systems. To successfully implement any activities to improve reporting systems, it will be necessary for the countries to critically assess the possibilities that they have to continue the work once support, fincial and logistical, is suspended regardless if the support is exterl or in-country. It is not very useful to realize improvements if the proposed activities are discontinued soon after support stops because the responsible departments do not assign the p riority, funds or capacity to maintain them. Ideally, these changes should be incorporated into existing structures and given the importance needed to ensure procedural continuity and high quality of data. A common problem through the region is the aggregation of species under a common label (e.g. sharks). Substantial amounts of money and time have been spent on the design, compilation and production of identification guides (e.g. FAO in Tanzania and Kenya) but they have serious shortcomings as they present one or two species from groups such as tu, a resolution that leaves much to be desired. For fisheries magement purposes, data must be collected with species resolution and these guides fall short of their intended objective. A possible replacement to printed guides is the use of electronic tablets that can be used for identification purposes as well as for data collection. The use of this technology would resolve the most common problem encountered in this mission, that of considera ble delays in report production due to hold ups in entry of data. The costs of said tablets and the development of the software in most cases would be less or comparable to the cost of purchasing laptops and other computers, photocopying forms, and mailing these to the various centres. Furthermore, the use of tablets would allow for remote supervision, thus reducing the need for on-site monitoring, as many of these tablets have GPS or other methods to determine position that allow for immediate localization and monitoring of personnel in the field. This technology, however, may not be appropriate to all countries visited, as it would need reliable Internet connection and technical support. It would be possible for countries like India and Sri Lanka to start using this technology as they have already expressed interest in its use and would address the issues presented above which are relevant to these countries. The countries visited exhibited a wide range of fisheries, gears, species, and of course issues thus they are presented individually in the country reports although general comments follow to highlight the most important findings and recommendations. India possesses one of the most complex fisheries in the region because of its size, large number of boats and people. In addition, the large numbers of landing sites make this country a challenge to sample. Nonetheless, there is infrastructure and institutiol capacity to address these concerns. The Central Marine Fisherie s Research Institute gathers data in far more detail than the State Unions and at this time harmonization of techniques and sampling by the two groups is taking place. There is no direct weighing of the catch but estimates are made visually. It is proposed that validation of this technique is done frequently to ensure the reliability of the estimates. Although there is stratified random sampling in place, it is suspected that there is substantial underestimation of the catches. There is an urgen t need to revise the stratification to allocate more sampling time to major ports. Manpower, however, is the most important issue as there are only 80 enumerators to cover 8,118 km of coastline where 1,896 ports and landing sites and 3,937 fishing villages are found. Increased sampling coverage and effort are proposed as the critical issue in India. Indonesia is one of the countries of high interest due to its geographically extensive fishery and to the large volume of fish caught. It is here pr oposed that with minor modifications to its port sampling and reporting procedures, Indonesia can report its artisal catches on time and reliably. Some of these changes include improved identification and classification of species, harmonization of datasheets throughout the various districts in the country, and reduced aggregation of data as they are passed along the chain of reporting. Although there are issues with the Indonesian fishery reporting system, there are no indications to suggest th at large underreporting is taking place. There are problems with identification of species and underreporting, not so much from omission of data as for mishandling of information. In some cases tu weights are reported from processed (gilled and gutted) animals and these weights are not converted to live weight. Although it is likely that there is some underreporting due to the size of the country and the complexity of the fishery, it appears that most of the catch is reported, albeit partly iden tified incorrectly. One of the main issues of concern in Indonesia is the catch of large numbers of small bigeye and yellowfin tu associated to “rumpons”, i.e. anchored Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). Their monitoring is proposed as a priority. Iran is home to one of the largest fleets of gillnet vessels in the Indian Ocean and currently has the best reporting system for total retained catch sampled in port of the countries visited. Large numbers of these vessels have the capacity to fish offsh ore and there is an urgent need to separate the coastal or EEZ fleet from that one that fishes on the high seas. The system in Iran covers effectively the effort (trips) for fishing vessels in its EEZ as this is mandatory and strictly enforced, but there is the need to improve the logbook system for vessels fishing on the high seas. Enumerators interview about 10% of the fleet but the same vessels are always sampled and this could be a source of bias that needs to be addressed. In addition, info rmation on gear configuration is needed to be able to standardise the effort per fishing event, something missing at this time. An important issue for the fleet fishing in this country may be bycatch of turtles, marine mammals and birds, and this will only be address accurately with observers on board the vessels. Kenya has a small fishery for tu, sharks and billfish. Although there is basic infrastructure and personnel in place, there is a need to improve the reporting system substantially, som ething already in development by the Fisheries Department in the country, with the creation of a new sampling protocol, datasheets and database. It is necessary to have dedicated enumerators (at this time personnel work on many tasks and sampling is sporadic) and basic equipment including hardware and software. The recreatiol fishery is effectively covered and there is a working database in use that houses a large dataset although it presents problems in specimen weights as these are estimated. Madagascar’s sampling and statistics infrastructure needs a complete overhaul. This will require massive amounts of money, time and expertise, assets that would be, in this consultant’s opinion, misplaced if we consider IOTC’s interests. Furthermore, the total catches of the species of interest, except sharks, are thought to be very low. It is very likely that the foreign fleet present in the Malagasy Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) catches most of the tu and sharks in the country. A small longlin e fleet targets bigeye and yellowfin but the catches are relatively small and the operators appear to record their catches in detail although it is unknown what the relevant authorities do with the information. The reporting of this component needs to improve to take advantage of the detailed information collected by operators. The main concern for Madagascar’s fishery is the large number of sharks caught which in many cases may go unreported. Investigation of the unreported shark catch and how to measure it is here proposed as a priority for this country. The tu fishery in Maldives is simpler than in other countries in the region. The main gear is pole and line although handlines and trolling are also used and there are plans to introduce longline. The main species caught are skipjack and yellowfin, the latter mainly for export. There are very good records of number of individuals caught and their weights for exported fish but the same cannot be said for fish that stay for local consu mption. The large number of islands and their relative isolation make it challenging to sample and monitor the fleet. An increase in effort in the various ports and landing sites and a revision of the sampling strategy are priorities for Maldives. In addition, there is mislabelling of bigeye (called yellowfin) although the numbers are low compared to the other species. Mozambique possesses one of the best data collection systems encountered. Although the artisal fleet catches small quantities of tu, the system and the personnel in place gather data with sufficient detail about gears, species and effort to allow for detailed alysis. There are reporting problems, however, as the institutiol obligations are not clear and Mozambique does not report its artisal catches to the IOTC. The semi industrial fleet, also included here because of the IOTC definition, does not have a comparable system as catch data are collected from logbooks without verification. Furthermore, concerns exist on under reporting from this and the foreign industrial fleet fishing in its EEZ. Sri Lanka’s fishery, even if similar to India’s because both are multi-gear, multi-species, is not as complex because the country does not land as much fish in as many landing places with as many gears. The harbours visited are relatively well organized and seem fairly easy to sample. As in India, the main problem is shortage of enumerators and the fact that two institutions sample for landings with different methodologies. This leads to duplication of work and it is proposed here that one institution conducts the sampling. Although there is stratified random sampling, sampling effort is not sufficient and there is a need to cover the landing sites more intensively and extensively. Collaboration between the two institutions responsible for fisheries data collection and reporting will improve the data gathering efforts in Sri Lanka. Tanzania (mainland and Zanzibar), like Kenya, has experienced marked changes in its tu fishery. Most vessels fishing for tu were from foreign fleets but they have moved away from the area due to piracy threats in this part of the Indian Ocean. Extremely small catches of tu, billfish and sharks are reported from the artisal fleet because the boats are basic and this forces them to remain very close to shore where tu species are not found in abundance. In most cases, data from artisal fisheries (within 12 nm from shore) are collected by Beach Magement Units (BMUs) who then pass the information to their respective fisheries department for collation and production of statistics. Further training of the BMUS was identified as a priority for Tanzania. The countries that need the most urgent intervention on their current sampling and reporting methodologies are India (tus and sharks), Indonesia (tus and sharks), Madagascar (sharks), Maldives (tus) and Sri Lanka (tus and sharks). These are the countries with the highest catches of tus and sharks that currently present issues with their data collection and reporting structure. In addition to the fisheries covered in this report, there are others that are industrial and which are not monitored or reported adequately. This includes the longline fishery of India and Indonesia, gillnet in Iran, and both fishing arts by the fleet from Sri Lanka. Although logbook systems are sometimes in place, the reporting from these fleets is sporadic at best and needs substantial improvement. At present, most of these fleets would not be able to report data in near-real time as proposed by the IOTC. Even though port sampling should register most of the species caught, there are species that are discarded for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, some fleets are semi-industrial or industrial because the boats are larger than 24m or they fish outside their EEZ, but the required coverage of 5 % of fishing events is not being met and they should be monitored more closely, thus the need to implement an observer programme as required by the IOTC. This is not feasible in many of the countries due to the small size of the vessels but monitoring at sea may be possible from patrol vessels where the observer does not need to spend more than a short amount of time on a boat to document the complete catch. Fishers in the countries visited may keep all of the catch (e.g. India) or in some cases may get rid of certain bycatch species because it is illegal to possess them (e.g. sharks in Maldives) or because they have no commercial v alue (e.g. birds) but this is difficult to verify. Thus it is important to ensure that observer programmes are implemented where possible to guarantee that all species caught, and their fates, are recorded and included in regiol statistics. Many programmes have been carried out in countries in the region to support the development of fisheries magement but few, if any, have taken root and become an integral part of the way countries collect, process and utilize information. When support is given it must be clearly defined and the commitment to sustain and develop their monitoring and sampling must be secured from the receiving countries as part of this effort. It is common practice that after the period of support ends, initiatives and projects grind to a halt because of lack of funds, shifting priorities within ministries or departments, or lack of political will to continue. This model clearly does not work and the result is the loss of massive amounts of money, time and effort from aid agencies and RFMOs, therefore an altertive is needed. Collaboration with the fishing community in data gathering activities may be a possibility for some of the countries in the region such as Tanzania, but for countries with large and complex fisheries this model is not workable. In this case, governmental support in funds, personnel and infrastructure is the only way in which countries will have an independent, reliable and workable fisheries framework. The changes proposed in the country reports are applicable not only to tu, billfish and shark fisheries, but they are measures to improve reporting systems as a whole, changes that are sorely needed for the magement of all species. The key to the success of any initiative will be political commitment from the concerned countries and the need to realize the importance of fisheries magement to the stability of the fishing industry and food security, and preservation of the resources.
Meeting

Rapport de la Onzième session du Groupe de travail de la CTOI sur les poissons porte-épées 2013

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La Onzième session du Groupe de travail sur les poissons porte-épées (GTPP) de la Commission des thons de l’océan Indien (CTOI) s’est tenue à La Réunion (France), du 18 au 22 septembre 2013. Un total de 24 personnes ont participé à la session (23 en 2012), dont un expert invité, le Dr. Humber Andrade, de l’Universidade Federal Rural de Permbuco, au Brésil. La réunion a été ouverte le 18 septembre 2013 par le président du GTPP, le Dr Jérôme Bourjea (La Réunion, France), qui a souhaité la bienvenu e aux participants. Données de captures, de prises-et-effort et de tailles Le GTPP RECOMMANDE que toutes les CPC évaluent et améliorent l’état des données de prises-et-effort pour les marlins (par espèces) et le voilier, indiquant que des améliorations aux données des flottes de l’UE et leur transmission au Secrétariat de la CTOI contribueraient énormément aux travaux du GTPP. [paragraphe 25] Effets de la piraterie sur les porte-épées Le GTPP NOTE que, même si aucune alyse spécifique de l’impact de la piraterie sur la pêche dans l’océan Indien n’a été présentée lors de cette réunion, le document IOTC-2013-WPB11-07 Rev_2 indique qu’il y a eu un déplacement important des captures (Figure 1) et de l’effort (Figure 2) vers l’est. Depuis 2004, les prises annuelles ont diminué de façon constante, principalement en raison de la baisse continue du nombre de palangriers taïwais actifs dans l’océan Indien (Figure 3). Au cours des dernières années, la proportion de l’effort de pêche de la flotte palangrière japoise a fortement diminué dans le nord-ouest de l’océan Indien (au large de la côte de Somalie), tandis que l’effort de pêche a augmenté dans la région au sud de 25°S, en particulier au large de l’Australie occidentale. [paragraphe 40] Le GTPP NOTE que le nombre relatif de palangriers actifs dans la zone de compétence de la CTOI a significativement diminué depuis 2008 (Figure 3) et INDIQUE que c’est probablement dû à l’impact de la piraterie dans l’ouest de l’océan Indien. Depuis 2 011, on a assisté à une augmentation du nombre relatif de palangriers actifs dans l’océan Indien, battant pavillon du Japon (68 en 2011, 98 en 2012), de la Chine (10 en 2011, 32 en 2012) et des Philippines (2 en 2011, 14 en 2012) (Figure 3). [paragraphe 41] Pêcherie de filet maillant du Pakistan Rappelant la Résolution 12/12 Interdisant l’utilisation des grands filets maillants dérivants en haute mer dans la zone de compétence de la CTOI, dont le paragraphe 1 stipule que « L’utilisation des gran ds filets maillants dérivants1 en haute mer dans la zone de compétence de la CTOI est interdite. 1. « grand filet maillant dérivant » désigne tout filet maillant ou autre filet, ou toute combiison de filets, dont la longueur dépasse 2,5 km et dont le but est de prendre au filet, piéger ou emmêler du poisson en dérivant à la surface ou dans la colonne d’eau », le GTPP RECOMMANDE que le CS prenne note que cette étude indique que des filets maillants dépassant la limite de 2,5 km de long sont utili sés par la flotte de fileyeurs pakistais, en contravention de la résolution 12/12. [paragraphe 44] Révision du plan de travail du GTPP Le GTPP RECOMMANDE que le Comité scientifique examine et adopte le plan de travail et le programme des évaluations du GTPP pour 2014 (et les versions prévisionnelles pour les années suivantes), comme fournies dans les annexes XII et XIII. [paragraphe 192] Ensemble consolidé des recommandations découlant de la Onzième session du Groupe de travail sur les poissons porte-épées Le GTPP RECOMMANDE que le Comité scientifique examine l’ensemble consolidé des recommandations découlant du GTPP11, fourni en Annexe XIV, ainsi que des avis de gestion fourni dans les propositions de résumés sur l’état des ressources de chaque espèce de porte-épée sous mandat de la CTOI : [paragraphe 205] - Marlin noir (Makaira indica) – Annexe VII - Marlin bleu (Makaira nigricans) – Annexe VIII - Marlin rayé (Tetrapturus audax) – Annexe IX - Voilier indo-pacifique (Istiophorus platy pterus) – Annexe X - Espadon (Xiphias gladius) – Annexe XI Le Tableau 1 fournit un résumé de l’état des espèces de poissons porte-épées sous mandat de la CTOI.

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