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The Maldives tuna fishery comprises of four main components; pole-and-line, handline, longline and troll line. In terms of total landings, livebait pole-and-line is still the most important. The main target species is skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), but small amounts of juvenile bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), (about 5-10%) is caught along with yellowfin tuna. Handline fishery is now well-established as a major component, which targets large yellowfin tuna (> 70 cm FL) from the surface (<10m). Following termination joint-venture licensing in 2010, a small domestic longline fleet operated from 2011 until early 2019. Troll fishery is minor and used to target mainly neritic species of kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis) and frigate tuna (Auxis thazard), but occasionally also caught skipjack and yellowfin tuna.
The pole-and-line and handline fleets operate within about 100 miles although historically, the fleet operated closer, and returned to the home island daily. The Longline Regulation which came in force in 2011 restricted its operation from within 100 from the shore to protect the pole-and-line and handline operations
Maldives reported a total of 1448,171 t of tunas in 2018, comprising of skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, frigate and kawakawa. Pole-and-line fishery landed 99% (99,886 t) of skipjack tuna in 2018, and was the second most important gear for yellowfin tunas, landing 37% (17,600 t) f all yellowfin tuna caught in 2018. Handline gear almost exclusively lands yellowfin tuna (28,960 t in 2018) which represented 99% of all species landed by the gear. Longline catch of tunas decreased by 59% from 2017, landing 799 t comprising of 633 t of yellowfin tuna and 163 t of bigeye tuna.
Catches of skipjack registered an increase in 2018 relative to 2017, by about 12%. Recent catches have been of the order of 68,000 – 100,000 t, still much less than the catch recorded in 2006. Caches of yellowfin are increasing, due to the growing handline fishery although 2017 reported a slight drop in catch. No specialized vessel is required for handline fishing hence many pole-and-line vessels now carry both sets of gears and switch target fishery and gear depending on fishing opportunities.
Maldives pole-and-line and handline tuna fishery have minimal impact on the ecosystem. Catch and interactions with Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species and other species of ecological importance is virtually non-existent. Shark bycatch and turtles are reported from the longline fishery, which has strict measures to report and release those that are caught. In addition, measures to mitigate bird entanglement in the longline gear are mandated by law. Logbooks for all the tuna fisheries have provisions to report catch and interactions of non-targeted and ETP species. Maldives Marine Research Institute currently conducts scientific observations of fishing trips in accordance with the relevant IOTC Conservation and Management Measures.
Collection of data from logbooks is now fully established. A revision to the Regulation enforced early in 2019 requires mandatory reporting of logbook before the catches are sold for processors and exporters. An electronic logbook is being trialled which will become fully rolled out by the end of 2019. A new vessel monitoring system is being procured which will replace the old VMS on the vessels. It is expected by the end of 2021 nearly all tuna fishing vessels will be equipped with VMS.
A number of donor and local funded programs are being implemented to improve fishery and biological data collection, monitoring and management of the fisheries. The programs are geared towards improving national reporting and compliance to IOTC Conservation and Management Measures and towards understanding and minimising impacts of fisheries on the ecosystem.
