Research Related to Bluefin Tuna Fishing in the Bay of Biscay

Abstract

This chapter reviews the research made on bluefin tuna in the Bay of Biscay fishery from a historical point of view. The subjects dealt with range from geographical origin, migrations from this area, conventional and electronic tagging, growth, and a compendium of studies on this fishery, are discussed. The ICCAT official statistics corresponding to landings, biological samplings (before and after the implementation of the PARP), the demographic structure of catches, and the abundance index of juvenile fishes are also considered.

Monitoring of Spanish flagged purse seine fishery targeting tropical tuna in the Indian ocean: Timeline and history

“…The epic history of the first survey (1981)(1982) was conducted by two small bait boats that crossed from Algeciras (in the south of Spain) to the Seychelles via the Suez Canal [8]. The second Spanish prospecting survey was conducted by four purse seiners in 1984 [9]. At that time, French purse seine vessels also started moving from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, following a first fishing cruise by a French purse seiner, Yves de Kerguelen, which entered the EEZ of Seychelles on November 1981 [10].…”

“…On October 28, 1983, the governments of the Seychelles and Spain signed a fisheries agreement in Mah� e, which granted Spain access to the Seychelles EEZ to fish highly migratory species. The first four purse seiners began their activities in March 1984 and the fleet gradually increased to 15 by December 1984 [9]. The agreement was regularly updated [12] until Spain entered the European Union in January 1986.…”

“…Since 1984-85, this practice was widely used in this fishery, mainly in three areas: waters off Somalia, Mozambique Channel and western to Seychelles Islands. There were generally two peaks of log (land originated natural floating drifting objects from river runoffs, such as palm tree branch) school fishing, a smaller one in April/May and a main one in September/October [9,13]. These two fishing seasons for tuna schools associated to logs occur following changes in the Indian Ocean monsoon system.…”