Fish aggregating devices in French Polynesia

The use of FADS for the development of tuna fishing in French Polynesia was contemplated in late 70's (Marcille. 1979). The first deployment of FADs was undertaken soon after by the organization in charge of projects for fishery development (Ugolini and Robert, 1982). In the early stages of the FAD project, the objectives of a rather general nature, were more specifically directed to developing surface tuna fishing, i.e. skipjack and yetlowfin fishing. The immediate goal was to assist the artisanal skipjack fishery which was experiencing economic difficulties. In the long run, the aim is to promote a more industrial type of exploitation, calling for fishing techniques having a high degree of efficiency. However, after a few years, one is able to observe that a gap exists between the initial goals and the actual use of FADs. Concerning surface fishing, spin-offs have remained limited (artisanal skipjack fishery) or non-existent (fishery development). On the other hand, the artisanal handline fishery for deep swimming tunas has proved to be the main user of FADs. The difficulties encountered in attaining the expected goals, particularly in fishery development. became apparent from the very beginning of the project. They resulted froni insufficient knowledge of the manner in which FADS work and, more specifically, their efficiency in aggregating fish. Besides, technical problems concerning their durability at sea occurred in the case of the first FADs. Both i