16ème groupe de travail sur les thons tropicaux

In 2013, the European and associated flags (EAF) purse seine fishing fleet of the Indian Ocean was composed of 35 vessels of individual capacity >800 t, which all represented a total carrying capacity >45,000 t of tuna. The total cumulated nominal effort exerted during the year was about 10,000 and 8,000 fishing and searching days, respectively. The EAF purse seiners cumulated a total of more than 9,300 fishing sets, with 80% made on FAD-associated schools (FAD) and 20% realised on free-swwiming schools (FSC). The total annual landings of the principal market tunas by the French purse seine fishing fleet increased by 20% between 2012 and 2013 and reached more than 270,000 t. The landings were composed of about 49%, 42%, and 9% yellowfin, skipjack, and bigeye, respectively. Total catches on FAD-associated schools increased from 150,000 t in 2012 to about 225,000 t in 2013 (+50%) while catches on FSC substantially decreased from 78,000 t to about 45,000 t (-43%). The percentage of yellowfin in the FAD catch has steadily increased over the recent years from about 25% during 2006-2009 to more than 40% in 2012-2013. The catch of skipjack per positive set on FAD- associated schools has strongly decreased since the early 2000s, from >30 t set-1 in 2002-2003 to 30 t set -1) in 2012-2013