Five French fleets were active in the Indian Ocean in 2020:
1 - The tuna purse seine fleet comprises 10 purse seiners (7 with a carrying capacity (CC) of between 800 and 1200 m3 and 3 purse seiners with a CC of more than 1200 m3 ) and 3 support vessels representing a total CC of 10724 tonnes. Landed catches amounted to 58,149 tonnes, representing a decrease of 17.6% compared to 2019, with a respective proportion of the major species YFT, SKJ and BET of 42%, 52.6% and 4.5%. The fishing effort reached 1805 days during which 2411 fishing operations were carried out with 1895 (79%) on ADFs and 516 (21%) on free banks. The number of ADFs deployed by the 13 vessels was 4153 (319 ADFs/boat). The human and electronic observer programmes contribute to a 100% coverage of the fishery.
2 - The longline fleet based in Réunion with 37 active vessels. The total landings of the fleet amount to 2001 tonnes for an estimated total effort of 4.180 million hooks. Swordfish accounted for 45% of the landings and the contribution of tuna (yellowfin, patudo and albacore) amounted to 43.6%. The observer programme covered 11.8% of the fishing effort expressed in hooks.
3 - Reunion's small-scale coastal fishing concerns a fleet of 124 units which landed 539 tonnes of large pelagics.
4 - The longline fleet in Mauritania comprises 2 active units for which we have no information on landings. No observers were allowed on board the vessels due to the COVID pandemic.
5 - The small-scale fishery in Mauritania comprises 141 active units which landed 189 t of large pelagics.
France, in line with the IOTC research priorities, is carrying out various projects at national, European and international level. France actively participated in all the working groups organised by IOTC in 2020 and presented XX scientific contributions by 15 October 2021.
