Status of the World Tuna Fishery with Special Reference on the Strategies for the Development and Management of Tuna Fishery in Indian Waters

Tuna production in the' world continued to increase from an average annual catch of 1.745 million t during 1970-'74 to a peak of 5.975 million t in 1999. The Pacific Ocean produced 68.9% followed by the Indian Ocean 17.3% and the Atlantic Ocean 13.8%. Skipjack was the most dominant species constituting 35.3% followed by yellowfin 25.9%. big-eye 6.3%. albacore 5%. other tunas 25.3% and longtail, kawakawa, southern and northern bluefins each less than 1%. Except skipjack. and albacore in the Atlantic, northern bluefin in the western Atlantic, kawakawa, longtail and other small tunas in the eastern Indian Ocean, all other species are fully exploited and some of them are at the verge of depletion. Tuna production from India continued to increase from a mere 3445 t in 1969 to a peak of 46,466 t in 1997. The species composition was E. afJinis 52.3%. Auxis spp. 21.2%. K. palamis 2.0%, T. ronggol8.6% and other tunas 15.9%. The west coast landed 85.2% and the east coast 14.8%. The south-west coast contributed 55.4%. north-west coast 29.8%. South- east coast 14.4% and North-east coast a mere 0.4%. The motorised sector landed 50.4% followed by the mechanised sector 37.8% and non-mechanised sector 11.8%. In the mechanised sector, the gillnet landed 59.4% followed by purse seine 23.1%, ring seine 10.4% and trawl 7.1%. Other than the coastal tuna fishery, there is no organised fishery for oceanic tunas in India. Deployment of longline and purse seine fishing fleet for the exploitation of oceanic surface and sub-surface tunas in the Indian Ocean is discussed and detailed suggestions for the development and management of the oceanic tuna tishery are given