Conservation of the tuna and billfish resources of the Indian Ocean

Fishing activity in the high seas has now been extended to the Indian Ocean also with the emergence of Japan in the post-war years as a premier fishing nation. With the exception of the intensive fishing carried out for the oceanic skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis in the Maldive Islands and in the Minicoy Island in the Indian Ocean it is doubtful if any organised tuna fishery existed anywhere in this area before the last World War. In the regular commercial fisheries of various countries bordering the Indian Ocean tunas and occasionally billfishes form a part of the catches during certain seasons from the inshore areas. What little fishing is done specially for these fishes is mostly of an exploratory nature