Prediction of potential fishing zones for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) using maxent models in Aceh province waters

Abstract

The exploitation of tuna in the Indian Ocean is increasing due to the high demand of its resources. This research aims to predict the fishing ground of the yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) using Maximum entropy models (MaxEnt) based on oceanographic satellite data and tuna fishing data obtained from Aceh waters, from June-August 2015. The highest MaxEnt (AUC) model in the transition season 1 occurred in May with AUC values of 0.9612, followed by March (0.8200) and April (0.6780). The high AUC value shows the potential to know the spatial distribution of tuna yellowfin tuna which can be interpreted as the level of accuracy of the model produced. Environmental parameters have a major contribution to the prediction of tuna fishing ground. In March the SST variable (64.4%) had the largest contribution, followed by SSH (8.4%) and Salinity (7.2%). Then in April the SST variable (62.4%) also had the largest contribution, followed by SSH (22.9%) and Salinity (17.6%). Similar to May SST (60.5%) had the largest contribution, followed by SSH (12.6%) and Salinity (7.0%). Based on the Maxent model, potential fishing grounds in the transition season 1 of 2015 are found in the waters of north and south of the Aceh Province.